The Port of Long Beach has announced a bold plan to establish a 400-acre wind port called Pier Wind that could centralize the manufacture and staging of floating offshore wind turbines on the West Coast and provide a major infrastructural boost to California’s planned goal of building floating wind farms so as to generate 25 Gigawatts by 2045.
“The proposed Floating Offshore Wind Staging and Integration facility – known as Pier Wind – would allow for the assembly of offshore wind turbines standing as tall as the Eiffel Tower,” the Port stated.
The Port projects the following benefits to California’s offshore wind efforts:
- Harness the powerful wind in deep waters in order to generate renewable energy at a lower cost while enhancing air quality by reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
- Meet California’s goal of producing 25 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2045.
- Contribute toward lowering the national cost of offshore wind power by 70% by 2035.
- Place California and the United States at the forefront of floating offshore wind technology and development, the project would create jobs and economic opportunities for communities near the San Pedro Bay port complex.
Accompanying the announcement was a detailed report “PIERWIND PROJECT CONCEPT PHASE Final Conceptual Report” produced by the engineering firm Moffatt & Nichol.
As background, the report explained that water depths off the Pacific Coast are “characterized by rapidly increasing water depths that exceed the feasible limits of traditional fixed offshore wind turbines. Thus, floating offshore wind technology is more suitable for this region. To minimize risk and ensure accurate assembly, floating offshore wind turbine systems require port facilities to fabricate the floating foundations, manufacture components, construct or assemble the turbine, and provide maintenance support.”
The study noted that “port infrastructure on the U.S. West Coast, including California, is not adequate to support the development of the offshore wind industry, and significant port investment is required to develop purpose-built offshore wind port facilities. This is because offshore wind components are large and require port facilities with significant laydown area and infrastructure with heavy loading capacities to assemble the turbine systems.”
To address this issue, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) performed a study to assess California ports and identify the quantity and size of required port facilities to meet California’s offshore wind planning goals: “The study indicated there are limited existing ports that could host staging and integration (S&I) sites due to the air height requirements needed for the fully assembled units. This type of facility would receive, stage, and store offshore wind components and assemble the floating turbine system, which is then towed out to the offshore wind area. The Port of Long Beach (POLB) has the potential to play a critical role in supporting the offshore wind industry to help meet the state and federal offshore wind deployment goals.”
Consequently, the Port of Long Beach (POLB) “is evaluating the opportunity to develop an approximately 400-acre terminal known as Pier Wind. This offshore wind terminal will be developed to have the flexibility to serve any of the offshore wind industry needs (i.e., staging and integration (S&I), foundation fabrication, component manufacturing, maintenance support, etc.). In addition, the terminal will meet the physical, regulatory, and environmental requirements to accommodate the largest floating offshore wind turbine generator (WTG) components and floating foundations being developed. This report documents the engineering decisions completed during the conceptual phase of the project.”
Pier Wind location
Pier Wind is located within the Port of Long Beach in the Outer Harbor. The western edge of the project is on the border that separates the Port of Long Beach from the Port of Los Angeles: “Pier Wind is strategically located south (outside) of the Long Beach International Gateway Bridge resulting in no height limitations or air draft restrictions for offshore wind industry use. This is critical since the offshore wind turbines can be up to 1,100 feet tall.”
(Image from Port of Long Beach)
