“We have been very impressed and humbled by the respondents and the quality of the responses we received for this RFQ. Large development companies and energy players based in Europe and the US responded to the RFQ which helps confirm the attractiveness of Humboldt County as the potential starting point for an entire new industry,” said Matthew Marshall, Executive Director of the RCEA.
Humboldt County has natural advantages that make it a prospective stepping stone for the offshore wind energy industry on the West Coast of the US, according to RCEA. The wind resource off the Humboldt County coast has average wind speeds of more than ten meters per second, inducing expected high capacity performance from wind farms.
The proposed project is a 100-150 MW floating offshore wind farm planned to be located more than 20 miles off the coast of Eureka. The project could potentially pave the way for offshore wind energy off the West Coast.
The selected consortium features significant offshore wind lease application and permitting experience, a mature, cost-competitive and suitable floating wind technology for Humboldt County’s unique geography (Principle Power Inc’s WindFloat technology), and a highly-capable team with the needed capacity to develop, finance, operate and build a supply chain to support this and future projects. RCEA and the selected consortium will be negotiating and finalizing a partnership agreement in the coming weeks, working toward the goal of submitting a lease application later this spring.
The project is expected to drive investment in local infrastructure at the Port of Humboldt Bay and other nearby onshore facilities. A collaboration with local stakeholders to identify and address needed infrastructure improvements will be led by the project partners.
