US offshore developer Magellan Wind and Danish fund manager Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) announced a partnership to develop floating offshore projects off California, fresh off CIP’s 800MW win in the first large-scale US offshore wind procurement in Massachusetts.

The development partnership will look to build both large- and small-scale floating wind farms using Stiesdal Offshore Technologies’ TetraSpar floating concept, targeting California and potentially other US markets, the companies said in a statement.

Henrik Stiesdal, founder of Stiesdal Offshore Technologies and formerly chief technology officer for Siemens Wind Power, is now acting as senior advisor to Magellan.

The announcement marks just the second initiative in the burgeoning US offshore wind market for CIP, following its prescient investment into developer Vineyard Wind, which two weeks ago emerged as the winner of Massachusetts’ landmark first offshore tender.

“We see significant potential for offshore wind in California as the state has set very ambitious goals for adoption of renewable energy,” says Michael Hannibal, partner at CIP.

CIP is a major investor in offshore wind projects around the world, including emerging markets in Asia and Australia. It has also backed an early-stage project in Atlantic Canada.

Magellan was founded in 2014, and is led by Jim Lanard, formerly managing director at Deepwater Wind.

The partnership will marry Magellan’s knowledge of US leasing, permitting, offtake, transmission and interconnection issues, with CIP’s expertise in project design, engineering, finance and construction, the companies say.

While interest in building floating offshore wind projects off California has been growing in recent years, the market remains at a nascent stage – with no development zones having yet been leased out in federal waters, and no firm timetable in place for a competitive lease auction.

However, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is moving the process forward in California waters, having received an unsolicited request for a commercial lease in 2016 from developer Trident Winds, with Norway’s Equinor (then known as Statoil) subsequently confirming its interest as well.

The continental shelf drops off rapidly along the US Pacific coast, meaning any offshore wind farms built off California would need to use floating technology, still in limited use globally. Late last year Equinor completed the world’s first full-scale floating offshore wind farm, the 30MW Hywind Scotland project.

California’s deep-seated protectiveness of its coastal resources will make it “the hardest state in the nation to permit an offshore wind farm”, Lanard said last year at an industry conference.

Yet for all the anticipated challenges, an expanding group of developers and investors believes California is a natural market for offshore wind, given its thirst for renewable power and the growing difficulty of building utility-scale wind and solar projects onshore in the Golden State.

California’s strict zoning laws have severely restricted wind development in recent years, while the US government has withdrawn large swaths of public lands in the state for potential renewable energy projects.

Offshore projects could also potentially compete with relatively cheap wind energy from New Mexico and Wyoming, although there is no political consensus in California that imports should play a meaningful role in the state’s future energy mix.

This spring, a consortium including Principle Power, EDPR and Aker Solutions signed a deal with California’s Redwood Coast Energy Authority to build a floating offshore wind array, with the project potentially on line by 2024, the companies say.

Wind

CIP, Magellan forge California offshore wind partnership