Estimated timeline for the Humboldt Bay offshore wind project.

The Humboldt Wind Energy Area (WEA) is located 20–29 miles off the coast of Wigi/Humboldt Bay, and comprises 132,352 acres, or 206.8 square miles. Exactly how many turbines would be placed in this space has not yet been decided by the developers and regulators, partially due to the region’s uncertain future electrical transmission capacity.

In 2023, Governor Newsom signed AB 1373 into law. The goal of the bill was to support the development of offshore wind (and other clean electricity resources including geothermal and multi-day long duration energy storage like batteries) by solving a market issue.

The two lease areas in the Humboldt Wind Energy Area (WEA) were provisionally leased by two private companies through the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)’s lease auction in December 2022. BOEM, an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, is regulating the development activities because the offshore wind projects would be built in the federal water of the Pacific Outer Continental Shelf (OCS-P).

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is the lead agency for environmental review of offshore wind. BOEM has developed an environmental review process that takes nearly a decade.

The Humboldt Bay Offshore Wind Heavy Lift Marine Terminal Project is a plan proposed by the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation & Conservation District (Harbor District) to develop Redwood Marine Terminal One — a site located just north of the old pulp mill near the town of Samoa on Wigi/Humboldt Bay’s Samoa Peninsula — into a new terminal specifically to facilitate offshore wind development.

Floating offshore wind energy technology is relatively new, with the first commercial floating offshore wind project in the world becoming operational off the coast of Scotland in 2017.

Offshore wind, and particularly floating offshore wind, is a relatively new technology with higher costs than some other more established energy sources — as much as $133 per megawatt hour (MWh), according to a recent federal analysis, compared to $78 per MWh for fixed-bottom offshore wind, and $34 per MWh for land-based wind.

A Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) is an agreement entered into by a developer and a community to ensure that local community members directly benefit from development in their area and to help address concerns. CBAs have been used for decades in combination with large-scale development and can take many different forms, ranging from funds to support local services to direct investments in infrastructure. ​

The benthic zone is the bottom or lowest ecological zone in the ocean. Benthic habitats are complex, consisting of a combination of physical, chemical, and biological conditions that are home to a variety of invertebrates and make up the largest single ecosystem on earth. Furthermore, many species of fish rely on the benthic for their food sources.

Increased economic activity in the greater Humboldt area could feasibly increase property values as the region has more economic activity.

It is highly likely that new transmission lines will follow the existing right-of-ways for the electrical transmission infrastructure that currently serves Humboldt Bay, since there would be fewer impacts than creating new right-of-ways. If existing right-of-ways are followed, depending on the design specifics, they may need to be expanded or rerouted in sections to accommodate larger setbacks associated with larger towers and higher capacity transmission lines.

Not only do we need to replace existing dirty energy with renewables, but we need even more renewably-generated electricity to offset fossil fuels in newly electrified sectors.

First, power would flow from each individual wind turbine to a floating offshore substation through an inter-array cable. From the offshore substation, power would flow via an export cable to an onshore substation where it could connect to the wider electric grid.

Obtaining federal permitting for onshore electricity transmission is often slow and complex. Navigating this process required multiple federal agencies and regulations, resulting in many delays that imposed significant project impacts. To increase efficiency and make the process more effective, the U.S. Department of Energy released the Coordinated Interagency Transmission Authorizations and Permits Program (CITAP) with the goal of cutting federal permitting average timelines

Because Humboldt County's existing transmission infrastructure is extremely limited and insufficient to transmit so much energy to other parts of California, the successful implementation of offshore wind would necessitate the construction of new, larger transmission lines to connect Humboldt with the rest of the State.

Previously, wind turbine components have been difficult to make sustainable due to the composite materials and resin systems that they require. However, efforts are being made to make the construction and management of wind turbines more sustainable.

There is not yet a developer/operator for the Humboldt Bay Offshore Wind Heavy Lift Marine Terminal, which is a project of the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation & Conservation District (Harbor District).

All of the currently installed offshore wind turbines off the East Coast of the U.S. are fixed-bottom turbines, while the proposed Humboldt offshore wind project would use floating turbines. Compared to floating turbines, fixed-bottom turbines cause different environmental impacts, due to the construction of their foundations in shallow water at sea and their proximity to the shore (11.7 miles on average).

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the federal agency in charge of environmental review for offshore wind projects in the U.S. under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), uses an unusual three-part process for environmental review.