Implementing port electrification for a healthier coast will require a larger energy load on the existing grid & collaboration among a port (or several ports), port tenants, interested community groups, & electric utility companies. Some of the largest ports in the U.S. have solutions.

Increased employment on the Somoa Peninsula and in the Humnoldt Bay Harbor would likely lead to an increase in vehicle traffic as employees come and go to work.

The proposed Humboldt offshore wind project would likely increase local vessel traffic. Vessels would bring offshore wind turbine components to the proposed Humboldt Bay Offshore Wind Heavy Lift Marine Terminal Project from around the country and world for final integration. In addition, tow vessels would periodically be towing the completed turbines out to sea for installation and back to the bay for maintenance.

Increased vessel traffic and the towing of offshore wind turbines in and out of Wigi, aka Humboldt Bay, associated with the proposed Humboldt Bay Offshore Wind Heavy Lift Marine Terminal Project on the Samoa Peninsula of Wigi/Humboldt Bay, would likely conflict with some recreational uses in Humboldt Bay.

Del Norte County has a minimum of about a decade before any offshore wind energy production happens, the need for construction jobs could be felt in Del Norte County as soon as 2030 with another uptick in 2040.

The North Coast’s offshore wind resources are world-class, both in their strength and consistency, such that offshore wind turbines located off of our coast could consistently produce an exceptional amount of energy.

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.

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 Schatz Energy Research Center at Cal Poly Humboldt analyzed the cost of offshore wind transmission and found that it could result in substantial savings to ratepayers.

The proposed new 500/115-kilovolt (kV) transformer and approximately 6-mile line connecting offshore wind energy to the local Humboldt Bay grid means that electricity generated by offshore wind would directly benefit residents around Wigi/Humboldt Bay and those directly connected to the local Humboldt Bay electric grid.

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.

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.

Wigi/Humboldt Bay is home to a thriving aquaculture industry. Oysters and seaweed are farmed in the bay, and the oyster seed industry has exploded in the past decade or so, with many of the "seeds" (tiny oyster) grown on floating docks within or near the proposed Heavy Lift Terminal. The proposed Humboldt Bay Offshore Wind Heavy Lift Marine Terminal Project would likely displace or impact some of these businesses.

In May 2023, local environmental activists started a campaign to ask for the Humboldt Bay Offshore Wind Multipurpose Heavy Lift Terminal to be a zero-emission or “green” port. The Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation, and Conservation District adopted Resolution 2024-01, committing to the development and adoption of a Green Terminal Strategy for its Heavy Lift Multipurpose Terminal.

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

According to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the construction and operation of wind turbines could negatively affect commercial, recreational, and Tribal fishing in a variety of ways.

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.

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).