Wind energy

Ocean wind farms are essential to electrify California’s grid with 100% clean energy. But they’re a giant, costly experiment — no one knows how hundreds of towering turbines will transform the remote North Coast.

A team of Oregon State University researchers were recently awarded $2.5 million to study the attitudes and feelings coastal residents have about potential offshore wind energy projects.

A law signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom on Saturday aims to speed up the process for new offshore wind development.

The Fountain Wind project proposal includes 48 turbines that would generate about 205 megawatts of power.

With the climate rapidly changing, researchers are trying to find ways to make clean energy developments less expensive and easier to build. For the Northwest, offshore wind power could play a critical role, but it also presents major challenges.

In Oregon, some utilities have begun ramping up renewable energy to meet the state's clean energy goals, but there’s a problem: The energy generated from these sources can only be used when the wind is blowing or the sun is shining.

Despite expecting 12.5 million electric cars by 2035, California officials insist that the grid can provide enough electricity. But that’s based on multiple assumptions — including building solar and wind at almost five times the pace of the past decade — that may not be realistic.

A federal offshore wind lease auction in December off California's coast promises to kickstart a work boom on the state's northern and central coasts.

Here are six ways that Californians will be affected by the state’s new climate change blueprint.

The winners of the first offshore wind auction on the West Coast were announced Wednesday. The auction netted over $750 million dollars after two days of bidding.

Several dozen companies are competing for leases to build massive floating wind farms in deep ocean waters off Humboldt County and Morro Bay. The auction is the first major step toward producing offshore wind energy off the West Coast.

California’s North Coast will be home to one of the first commercial-scale offshore wind projects in the western U.S.