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A 206-square-mile area located 20 miles off the coast of Wigi (1), aka Humboldt Bay, is one of two offshore wind energy areas currently under consideration on the California coast. Developing offshore wind will require substantial new investment in local infrastructure. The Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation & Conservation District has proposed developing a marine heavy lift terminal on Wigi/Humboldt Bay’s Samoa Peninsula that would use large cranes to facilitate the construction of offshore wind turbines for proposed wind energy areas along the West Coast. The site is located North of the old pulp mill smokestack and South of the Samoa bridge. In addition, new transmission lines would need to be constructed to bring the electricity generated by offshore wind to the people of Humboldt County and the rest of the State. 

 

Designed to help California and the U.S. reach our clean and renewable energy goals (2) and combat climate change, the Humboldt Wind Energy Area (3) is projected to produce approximately 2.7 to 3.6 gigawatts (GW) of renewable electricity once fully operational. To put that into perspective, one GW of electricity is enough to power about 750,000 average California homes. Producing this new renewable energy would support our transition away from current dirty, climate-polluting fossil fuel sources of electricity, such as “natural” gas power plants, and provide immediate environmental justice benefits by improving air quality near existing natural gas power plants.

 

At the same time, there are significant local concerns about the proposed project’s impact on the sacred Tribal spaces, marine species, and ecology of the North Coast. The scale of the wind turbines and the use of new technology, untested in such deep waters, raises potential risks. Adding new port infrastructure would also significantly change Wigi/Humboldt Bay, transforming it into a more active port. Similarly, new transmission infrastructure would need to be built to connect the offshore wind turbines to the greater California electric grid.

 

There is still a lot about these projects that we do not know for certain and this website reflects that. The offshore wind developers will be spending approximately five years (2024–2029) studying and surveying their lease area. After that, they will need to develop construction and operation plans that will undergo extensive environmental review. The leases they entered into with the Federal government give them the right to study the area and design a project, but they do not have the right to build a project until it goes through considerable environmental review. The Port of Humboldt Bay’s new offshore wind heavy lift marine terminal and the proposed transmission improvements necessary to facilitate offshore wind will also have to undergo extensive environmental review before those projects could begin construction. All of that environmental review will produce lots of new information and enhance our understanding of these projects. As we learn more, we will update these FAQs with the current understanding of the project.