The Castle Wind JV, which plans to develop the offshore wind farm off the Morro Bay coast, off the Central California Coast, is preparing to take part in an expected lease sale to be conducted by the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in late 2022
TotalEnergies to take part in the 1GW Castle Wind project, offshore California. (Credit: Detmold from Pixabay)
TotalEnergies has replaced EnBW North America as the joint venture (JV) partner of Trident Winds for the development of the 1GW Castle Wind project off the coast of California.
The offshore wind farm is planned to be built off the Morro Bay coast, off the Central California Coast.
TotalEnergies got into the Castle Wind joint venture by purchasing the shares that were previously held by EnBW North America.
Castle Wind CEO Alla Weinstein said: “We have come a long way since first identifying the opportunity for offshore wind development in California in 2016 and stand today at the precipice of a generational opportunity to secure California’s clean energy future.
“We are excited to begin the next chapter of this journey. TotalEnergies’ experience and expertise, with over 10 GW of offshore wind projects under development, will be invaluable as we work towards making offshore wind a reality in California.”
The Castle Wind JV is preparing to take part in an expected lease sale to be conducted by the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in late 2022.
TotalEnergies US offshore wind David Foulon said: “TotalEnergies is pleased to bring our global expertise in deploying efficient, large-scale offshore assets to Castle Wind in California. The work completed by the teams in the last years has laid a solid foundation with the local communities, and we look forward to working with them to bring clean energy to the state.
“This partnership in Castle Wind is another important step for TotalEnergies to contribute to the U.S. offshore wind industry ramp-up, and fulfil its global ambition of becoming a top five producer of renewable energy worldwide by 2030.”
The joint venture between EnBW North America and Trident Winds was formed in June 2018. In late February 2022, EnBW North America’s parent firm EnBW said that it will exit the US market to focus its future offshore wind activities in Europe.
As a result, EnBW North America and its assets will be acquired by TotalEnergies.
Last week, Attentive Energy, a joint venture between EnBW and TotalEnergies was the second highest bidder in the New York Bight offshore wind lease with a bid of $795m for an 84,332-acre area.