A California Senate committee has advanced legislation intended to spur the development of floating windfarms off the west coast of the US
Assembly Bill 525 was introduced by assembly member David Chiu. A 13 July 2021 vote in favour of the bill by the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee was the latest positive development for the legislation.
The bill will now move to the Senate Appropriations Committee for a further vote in August.
As previously reported by OWJ, the legislation will set a new state goal of 10 GW of offshore wind by 2040. It also sets an interim offshore wind target of 3 GW by 2030.
The bill also directs state agencies to begin planning for and addressing barriers to the development of a large-scale offshore wind industry in California and requires state agencies to develop an implementation plan for offshore wind that will identify sufficient wind areas to meet the 10-GW target.
Responding to the latest vote, American Clean Power-California (ACP-CA) said, “This legislation builds on new offshore wind agreements by the Biden and Newsom Administrations to accelerate deployment of offshore wind on the California coast.”
ACP-CA director Danielle Osborn Mills said, “With heat waves and wildfires once again threatening our power supply, California leaders can see climate change is here. The vote is another sign that they recognise that every action the state takes on clean energy needs to focus on decarbonising the economy, creating renewable energy jobs, and providing reliable, low-cost, carbon-free power for every community.”
“Offshore wind checks all of these boxes, and this bill will help the state ensure this major, untapped new source of renewable energy becomes an essential part of California’s diverse, 100% clean energy economy.”
“The clean power industry is heartened by the strong, bipartisan support in the legislature for this important new renewable energy technology. It’s clear that California means business when it comes to fighting climate change, and we will continue pushing to provide more of the clean energy Californians depend on.”
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