LOS ANGELES — The first ever auction for leases to build massive wind farms off the coast of California was held earlier this month.
Interested bidders spent more than $757 million for five sites off the coast of Morro Bay and Humboldt County. It’s a large amount of money, but it pales in comparison to the $4 billion bidders paid for similar sites on the East Coast.
California’s Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis spoke about the future of wind energy in the state with “Inside the Issues” host Alex Cohen.
“The difference when you talk about some of the wind generation off the coast of the East Coast and what we’re doing in California is that our coastal shelf is very, very deep,” she said. “Rather than being fixed to the ocean floor, these are going to be massive floating wind turbines.”
According to Kounalakis, five gigawatts of electricity will be generated from this auction, which is enough to power about 1.5 million homes.
“It is a validation that these companies, which have enormous experience in building floating wind turbines, believe that we can do it here in California. And they have just now made an enormous investment as the first step to actually building these wind turbines,” she said.
Kounalakis also spoke about the current COVID-19 situation in the state.
As of Dec. 22, California is averaging 7,359 daily cases and a 10.6% positivity rate.
“We’re entering the winter months,” she said. “There’s the flu, there’s RSV and there’s COVID surges … and for people who have not been vaccinated, it is as dangerous as it ever was.”
Kounalakis highlighted the safety protocols that have been echoed throughout the pandemic and getting vaccinated against the virus.
“Mask wearing, social distancing, washing our hands. We know these things work,” she said. “We know that there are these practical things that we can do to slow the spread. And as we go into the winter months, people are in close quarters. People should be careful.”
Kounalakis was in Los Angeles earlier this month for the swearing in of Mayor Karen Bass as the city’s first female mayor. Kounalakis, who was herself California’s first female lieutenant governor, said it was very moving.
“We're breaking glass ceilings in young people, boys and girls. And, you know, they're able to look around them and say that my gender identity is not going to hold me back,” said Kounalakis. “That's really important because what we know is that people working together with equal representation really do deliver the best results.”
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