Ocean Winds awarded a 2 GW floating offshore wind project in California

Ocean Winds, ENGIE’s joint venture held 50/50 with EDP Renewables and dedicated to offshore wind, was awarded a lease area for a floating offshore wind site of 2 GW capacity by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).

Ocean Winds and its partner the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), through their 50/50 joint venture Golden State Wind, was awarded a lease area of 325[X] km² in the Morro Bay area, off the central coast of California. It is one of five sites that was the subject of an auction held by the BOEM.

The future offshore wind farm will have a capacity of 2 GW, generating enough energy to power the equivalent of 900,000 homes. This will bring California and the U.S. closer to meeting their clean energy goals of 5 GW of floating offshore wind generation by 2030 in California, and 15 GW by 2035 in the U.S.

This auction is the first floating offshore wind lease sale in the US and the first offshore wind lease sale on the West Coast. In North America, Ocean Winds has now about 6 GW under development with this new project in California and its two projects in the East: Mayflower Wind off the New England coast, and Bluepoint Wind off the New York and New Jersey coasts.

In addition to offshore developments, ENGIE has a strong position in North America, with over 4.5 GW of onshore wind and solar projects in operation and construction, to which were added a pipeline of 12 GW of solar and battery storage projects acquired by the Group in 2022.

Commenting, Paulo Almirante, ENGIE Senior Executive Vice President in charge of Renewables, Energy Management and Nuclear Activities, said:

“This new success for Ocean Winds is linked to its pioneer role for more than 10 years in floating offshore wind, with around 4 GW of projects in operation, construction or underdevelopment in Portugal, France, South Korea and the UK. We, at ENGIE, are very proud to contribute to the development of offshore wind in the US, where Ocean Winds is developing now around 6 GW of offshore wind capacity and with significant contribution to the local economy.”

About ENGIE

Our group is a global reference in low-carbon energy and services. Together with our 101,500 employees, our customers, partners and stakeholders, we are committed to accelerate the transition towards a carbon-neutral world, through reduced energy consumption and more environmentally-friendly solutions. Inspired by our purpose (“raison d’être”), we reconcile economic performance with a positive impact on people and the planet, building on our key businesses (gas, renewable energy, services) to offer competitive solutions to our customers. Turnover in 2021: 57.9 billion Euros. The Group is listed on the Paris and Brussels stock exchanges (ENGI) and is represented in the main financial indices (CAC 40, Euronext 100, FTSE Eurotop 100, MSCI Europe) and non-financial indices (DJSI World, DJSI Europe, Euronext Vigeo Eiris – Eurozone 120/ Europe 120/ France 20, MSCI EMU ESG screened, MSCI EUROPE ESG Universal Select, Stoxx Europe 600 ESG, and Stoxx Global 1800 ESG).

About Ocean Winds

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