A bill that promises to jumpstart wind energy production in California has come one step closer to becoming law.
Authored by David Chiu (D-San Francisco), Assembly Bill 525 would direct state agencies to set statewide goals for offshore wind production and develop a strategic plan for California to achieve large-scale renewable wind energy by 2045.
The bill was approved by the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee, according to a news release issued Monday by Chiu’s office. The bill now moves on to the Senate Natural Resources Committee on July 13.
“The signs of the climate crisis are all around us,” said Chiu. “With offshore wind, we have an opportunity to counter the threat of climate change, meet our clean energy goals, and create thousands of new good-paying jobs in the process.”
He said offshore wind construction could provide 14,000 good-paying jobs and save utility customers $1 billion between now and 2040.
Chiu said having a wind energy strategy is key to the state meeting its goal of achieving a carbon-free electric system by 2045, as stipulated by SB 100 approved in 2018.
Chiu’s bill would create a strategic plan to put offshore wind in place along the California coast, mapping near-term infrastructure improvements needed to accommodate offshore wind facilities.
Chiu said the research indicates the prime location for wind turbines is in federal waters 20-30 miles offshore, which is also far enough to not be visible from the coast.
This is an improvement from the old antiquated Oil offshore drilling. Finally we are on the way to improvement of our planet. Now I know this comment will set off the old stinking thinking. Fortunately you are not in charge.
I prefer the drilling offshore. This project is a waste of money. Look around you at what the people in charge are doing to screw up the country. I guess they are your people. I wouldn’t claim them.
Too bad we can’t harness all the hot air that comes out of the mouths of California Democrat politicians!
Wind is actually not that efficient
and it really pollutes our eyes
Takes away from the natural beauty of our earth
Sad sad sad
It’s great that they will be out of sight and we won’t have to see all the birds killed. I wonder how much CO 2 and carbon it takes to make and install ?
If money is no object or grounds for objection, then my next question would be how many rare-earth metals will be required for this project. The mining and refining of those metals in China and third world countries pollutes the water, ground and skies. This is one of those “we had to kill them to save them” scenarios.
Just like all that polluting heavy equipment it takes to make lithium batteries.
Another boondoggle- similar to the HSR to nowhere.
The bill’s supporters include marketing, venture capital orgs, scientists, environmental groups, etc… with minimal engineering input or support.
Certainly, no evaluation has been done on system stability or protection of undersea transmission lines.
No surprise.
Missy- the devils are in the details. While a few countries have developed offshore wind turbine “farms”, none are the size being planned off of the California coast – nor are they at the distance being considered, which is why I raise my concern about undersea transmission lines (given the politics in this state).
I haven’t read all of the research reports – but they seem to be limited to theoretical papers, with minimal real-world technical evaluation. I also noted that none (?) if the organizations listed as supporting this effort are engineering firms – pretty much related to the construction (for jobs), developers/venture capital firms for financing and the like. Even the cost is only addressed topically as a “best case” scenario.
Given the scope of this effort, I can assure you that it will take MUCH more than “minimal engineering.” Electrical (generation, transmission, protection/relay schemes), civil/structural engineering, mechanical engineering, marine engineering, geological/earthquake engineering, environmental engineering, load flow studies, permits, land acquisition and studies for the land side of the transmission system, coordination with a large number of state, federal and local agencies, large battery storage systems similar to what’s installed at Moss Landing, etc, etc, etc….
That’s the problem when the public (and politicians) are sufficiently trained in the engineering fields. It’s not just a simple “drop it in the water and watch it go.
Lastly, the engineering evaluation needs to include an economic evaluation. Holding up a “best case” scenario as the model is NOT the way to determine whether a project should move forward, to ensure that it remains on schedule, within scope and on budget.
No engineering or detailed evaluation has been performed to date. It is impossible to do so without a scope of work, schedule and a budget. So far, the bill is just a “pie in the sky” initial discussion. Check it out – AB525 for the details. Reread the bill.
I may be called in to consult with the CEC or CPUC in any case – given my 45 year background as a registered engineer in California. It would not be the first time I’ve been called in to provide consulting services to the industry.
SubStaEngr…
So we have money for this fiasco but not a desalination plant or two. This state is whacked.
What about a plain ole reservoir? Heck, they can’t even keep the forest in decent condition.
Seabirds are an important part of the marine ecosystem and protected by law. One day we will go to the beach and there won’t be any seagulls. How much energy will be saved if we deported every illegal in the state? I’d rather see them go than the birds.
Hell, California can’t even dig a hole without screwing it up.
And you know damn well that the contracts will go to Feinstein/Blum and Pelosi. I’d love to see their taxes….
It looks like another money-laundering opportunity.
Fix the potholes.
Nothing we do here is going to change global warming, until we stop other countries from mass destruction of our environment.
SubstraEngr, I wish you would back up your claim of no evaluation being done. And of course only minimal engineering is needed to put giant wind electricity producing wind turbines in the ocean.
My biggest worry is the thousands of people that will get cancer from the wind disruption. If only we could go back to the simper days of good old wood, whale oil and horse poop.
C’mon missy – we’re still waiting for your engineering CV that qualifies you to state that “minimal engineering” is needed to put a bunch of “giant wind electricity producing turbines in the ocean…”
I’ll settle for you providing your PE license number.
Where in hell did you get your engineering degree- the back of a matchbook?
May I just refer you to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard wind turbine experiment? Ruins the fishing economy, kills tons of birds and it ruins Obozo’s view of the ocean from his mansion. Which he is ironically trying to stop more turbine’s being put into the ocean there.
Missy – we’re still waiting for you to document your engineering “expertise.”
Or was it just limited to TinkerToys?
EXCELLENT!
And now may they power pumps for desalinization plants?
Missy – before you claim that “minimal engineering” is required, please provide your CV LISTING your professional engineering experience, education and qualifications.
Looking at your post, I would venture to say that it’s ZERO. But here’s your chance to prove me wrong.
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How many birds will be killed by offshore wind turbines? How many whales? Other marine life?
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Has the hum of wind turbines been studied how it affect marine life? What about the required cabling?
.
… oh… none of this matters because wind energy is allegedly “green” and good for the environment.
.
Environmentalists and liberals are such hypocrites.
Spot………….,…..on
And what melts the copper that is mined by heavy equipment for the cable’s. Oil lots of it.
Sadly I see this going the way of the High Speed Rail. Another expensive failure.
Yes! Just look at the success of the Altamont bird choppers…..( I mean wind farms )
When a Liberals tries to save taxpayers money, you know it is going to hurt. Good luck, suckers. You have Dumb and Dumber and Dumbest ruining the state.
I know a dude whose full time job is to count birds killed by windmills in one facility. The impact of wind energy to avian population is signficant.
How about using the motion of the ocean to move generating machinery so we don’t have to look at all the ‘ugly’ horizon or the hills covered in ‘matchsticks’
Also who will be responsible for dismantling all this ‘junk’ when it no longer works like a lot of the windmills in the Altamont Pass? Guess that part was left out of the big picture eh?
Wait until the price is due on disposal of all this ‘green feel good’ stuff is due.
It will pale compared to oil messes.
Until they can get other countries in line with Western countries, nothing will change one bit.
Wake up people.
David Chiu is a moron. Another leftist East Coaster who found a welcoming home in San Francisco.
If California had discouraged these Easterners from migrating here we would have retained our historical conservative political landscape.
You’re so full of crap to make up statistics like 14,000 jobs and saving over $1 billion for utility customers.
How do you know when a politician is lying? They’re talking.
Liberals politicians know nothing about “creating jobs….” They spent their entire career ducking off the government tray and have never had to meet a payroll or ensure the business remained viable.
10,000 years of climate history disputes current hysteria among the misinformed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=higXpFF79Hw
Jørgen Peder Steffensen is a professor in ice core related research at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen. Using ice core date, his team has reconstructed the last 10,000 years of climate
history.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE0zHZPQJzA
Is UNOBTAINIUM the answer to energy issues? This a WOKEUP call to some of you misinformed folks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqppRC37OgI
I’ve tried to interest many companies in my Hamster Wheel Electric Generator Farm plan, but nobody will take me seriously…… I have no clue why.
The high speed rail is a complete administrative disaster and the majority would erase it from history if they could, but despite that now the government wants to charge ahead with windmills. They learned nothing, and their sense of responsibility for our tax money is zero. And as far as not seeing them, an nbcphiladelphia computer generated simulation of what was proposed on the East coast has the narrator exclaiming how beautiful the ocean looks with these offshore windmills at 15 miles as if they were putting up a Vincent Van Gogh painting in the living room.
You just KNOW that some big-time donor to the Democrat Party will win this contract. With Feinstein and Pelosi family members getting in on the action.
I vividly remember about 20 years ago there were plans to build the first offshore windfarm off the Massachusetts coast with 130 turbines. Guess who opposed it because their pressious views would be spoiled? The late Senator Ted Kennedy (D) and his billionaire neighbor William Koch (D). The Kennedys and Koch used both their money and influence to fight this tooth and nail. After a 17 year battle, the Power Company threw in the towel. So I propose to Mr. CHUI that we place the first offshore windfarm in view of the Obama estate on Martha’s Vineyard.
This is pure BS.
Look on the bright side, companies benefiting from this off shore fantasy will be another source of campaign contributions for those running this state.
Doesn’t matter to them if price you pay for electricity goes up.
again right over your heads
boondoggle
the state is pushing union jobs
and will soon be forcing all the so called home sitting system suckers to take high paying union jobs or lose benefits
the path to gov socialism is getting closer
you won ….the state will spend and spend then say oh you spent too much people now you have to work it off or no food
enter socialism
and those near sighted kids being indoctrinated in the schools and colleges will feel the burn of yet again another dem lie
as they work under socialism and have no freedom to be a 1 quarter of a nil penny of yet a quarter a company owner lol
if you kids are so smart do some research go to china and russia and ask the people who are boarding planes and boats and coming to America for freedom
only to learn you gave it away for a dem political lie
tell them you want socialism and all its glory lol
see what they say
Any time they try to sell the public on an ill conceived project, the sales pitch is “it will create thousands of jobs”. They fail to understand psychological elements of the human experience.
Humans need to feel productive, not simply busy. Working on projects to nowhere may provide a paycheck but what’s missing is the reward of making a real contribution. In other words, don’t sell us busywork.
“Project Waterworld” if completed will be nothing more than a target for those wishing to harm California.
There was a good story in the LA Times (California bullet train isn’t the jobs creator some claim, May6, 2021) about a big banner sign on the high speed rail project saying 5000 jobs and counting. The LA Times investigated. Those 5000 jobs included anyone, even contractors who had only worked one day. The real number for continuing workers was 1000. Even the leftist LA Times didn’t believe the politician’s propaganda.
Won’t work as expected. Any Engineer will tell you that the longer the distance the generator is from the consumer, the higher the power losses are and inefficiency increases. The studies recommending this are likely environmental only, not from an electrical efficiency perspective. Turbines require lots of maintenance. Additionally, this has been done in the past elsewhere with disappointing results. Let’s not repeat bad decisions.
Just looked at some government study from 2018 and it looks like any migrating whales will be going through a gauntlet of death with all of those huge mooring lines. Those don’t exist in nature and there is no natural defense, so when the mommy humpback whale with her calf dives to feed during the migration, she will roll the dice for being severely injured ramming into these lines. How mean spirited.