California Energy Commission subpoenas offshore wind developer Ocean Winds

At the end of April 2026, the US Department of the Interior confirmed that Golden State Wind – a joint venture of Ocean Winds and Reventus Power that is managed by Ocean Winds – had relinquished its lease in the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area, California (Lease OCS-P 0564).

The subpoena seeks documents and information related to the company’s agreement with the US Department of the Interior to accept a payout in exchange for voluntarily abandoning its 2-GW offshore wind lease. 

The CEC is requesting the agreement and other information from Golden State Wind, including the basis for the agreement and representations it made to the federal government during the development of this agreement, as part of an investigation. 

Commission chair David Hochschild said, “The Trump administration is recklessly spending billions of taxpayer dollars on backroom deals that would turn back the clock on innovation. Californians deserve immediate answers about the nature of this payout. Taxpayer dollars should be used to build a sustainable energy future, not to pay to make projects disappear.”

According to the Department of the Interior, Golden State Wind agreed to voluntarily relinquish its offshore wind lease located in the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area off the Central California coast and forgo future offshore wind projects in the US. In exchange, Golden State Wind will receive a US$120M payout from the federal government after making an equivalent investment in US oil and gas projects outside of California.

The subpoena letter said what the ‘taxpayer-funded lease buyout deal’ “undermines significant investments made by the State of California and other public entities in California to develop the transmission and port infrastructure necessary for offshore wind projects, which were made in reliance on commitments by Golden State Wind and other companies who hold leases to develop offshore wind projects off the coast of California, as well as by the federal government.”

The Commission noted that those investments supported the state’s goal to develop up to 25 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2045 in order to accelerate the clean energy transition by providing a consistent, reliable source of clean electricity, support the state’s greenhouse gas emission reduction goals, create local manufacturing jobs and drive economic development.

To date, said the letter, California has invested more than US$100M in reliance in commitments, which include waterfront facilities improvement, an offshore wind port facility, awards to technology providers and national laboratories, wind monitoring and ecosystem protection research and the development of a Strategic Energy Plan.

Golden State Wind’s lease also included bid credit commitments of more than US$24M for workforce training and supply chain and US$6M in Lease Use Area Community Benefits Agreements.