Ocean Winds awarded with 2 GW in California Wind Energy Lease
- EDP Renewables and Engie’s joint venture partnered with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to develop a floating offshore project in California
- This 2 GW are a significant milestone for the presence of Ocean Winds in the United States, where the company has about 4 GW under development through two projects in the Northeast
Madrid, 8 of December 2022 – Ocean Winds (OW) and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), through their 50/50 offshore wind joint venture Golden State Wind, were awarded a 32,500 hectares lease area by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in the Morro Bay area off the central coast of California.
The lease area awarded is one of five sites off the coast of California that was the subject of an auction held by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). This auction is particularly notable as it is the first floating offshore wind lease sale in the country, and the first offshore wind lease sale of any kind, on the West Coast.
OW is already developing around 4GW of offshore project in the Northeast of the U.S., Mayflower Wind off the New England coast, and Bluepoint Wind off the New York and New Jersey coasts. The latest is the project being developed out of the seabed lease area awarded during the New York Bight auction earlier this year.
Bautista Rodriguez, CEO of Ocean Winds said: “As a pioneer in floating offshore wind and firm believer in its capabilities to produce large capacity of clean energy and create local opportunities around the world, Ocean Winds is very proud to have been awarded a new project during this first floating offshore wind auction in the U.S. We are committed to bringing the country and California closer to meeting their clean energy goals, while building a new domestic industry, creating jobs, and boosting the local economy.”
Ocean Winds has more than 10 years of experience in floating offshore wind, most notably through the development and operation of Windfloat Atlantic, the world’s first fully commercially operational floating offshore wind farm. OW has a substantial portfolio of floating projects in Europe and South Korea and is ideally positioned to bring this technology to the Golden State.
When fully built out and operational, Golden State Wind’s lease area can accommodate approximately 2 GW of offshore wind energy, generating enough energy to power the equivalent of 900 000 homes. This will bring the U.S. and California closer to meeting their clean energy goals of 15 GW of floating offshore wind generation by 2035 in the U.S. and 5 GW by 2030 in California – building a new domestic industry, creating jobs for Californians, and boosting the local economy.
As part of OW and CPP Investments’ winning bid, Golden State Wind committed to invest in workforce development and supply chain initiatives and to work closely with key local stakeholders to maximize the benefits to California from the emerging offshore wind industry.
About EDP Renewables (EDPR)
EDP Renewables (Euronext: EDPR) is the world’s fourth largest wind and solar energy producer and is present in 28 markets throughout Europe, North and South America and Asia Pacific. Based in Madrid and with regional head offices in Houston, São Paulo and Singapore EDPR holds a robust development portfolio with first-class assets and market-leading operating capacity in terms of renewable energy. This includes onshore wind energy, large-scale and distributed solar energy, offshore wind energy (via a 50/50 joint venture with OW) and renewable energy-adjacent technologies such as batteries and green hydrogen.
EDPR’s employee-centred policies have seen them named a 2022 Top Workplace in the United States and a 2022 Top Employer in Europe (Spain, Italy, France, Romania, Portugal and Poland) and Brazil, as well as being listed in the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index.
EDPR is a division of EDP (Euronext: EDP), a leader in the energy transition with its focus on decarbonisation. In addition to its solid standing with the renewable energy sector (via EDPR and its hydroelectric operations) EDP also maintains a support network for public services in Portugal, Spain and Brazil made up of electricity networks, customer solutions and energy management services.
About OW
Ocean Winds (OW) is an international company dedicated to offshore wind energy and created as a 50-50 joint venture, owned by EDP Renewables and ENGIE. Based on its belief that offshore wind energy is an essential part of the global energy transition, OW develops, finances, builds and operates offshore wind farm projects all around the world.
When EDP and ENGIE combined their offshore wind assets and project pipeline to create OW in 2019, the company had a total of 1.5 GW under construction and 4.0 GW under development; OW has been adding rapidly to that portfolio and is now on a trajectory to reach the 2025 target of 5 to 7 GW of projects in operation, or construction, and 5 to 10 GW under advanced development. In 2022, OW’s offshore wind gross capacity already operating, contracted or with grid connection rights granted reaches 16.6 GW.
OW, headquartered in Madrid, is currently present in 8 countries, and primarily targets markets in Europe, the United States, selected parts of Asia, and Brazil.
More information: www.oceanwinds.com Follow us on LinkedIn
About CPP Investments
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments™) is a professional investment management organization that manages the Fund in the best interest of the 21 million contributors and beneficiaries of the Canada Pension Plan. In order to build diversified portfolios of assets, investments are made around the world in public equities, private equities, real estate, infrastructure and fixed income. Headquartered in Toronto, with offices in Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, New York City, San Francisco, São Paulo and Sydney, CPP Investments is governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and at arm’s length from governments. At September 30, 2022, the Fund totalled $529 billion. For more information, please visit www.cppinvestments.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.
