New plan could bring wind turbines closer to Morro Bay

Also critical of moving wind turbines closer to shore was Morro Bay Mayor John Headding, who complained that a change of plans would require BOEM to re-issue a new call, delaying the project a year or more. With Diablo Canyon closing soon, the region needs the economic stimulus now, he said.

The industry had hoped the leasing process would go forward in 2021 after more than four years of discussion.

Morro Bay Harbor Director Eric Endersby said he believes the Navy is amenable to some portion of the existing call location but that this issue remains ”a moving target.”

The task force has already ditched a call area off Diablo Canyon at the request of the Navy, focusing instead on the 25-mile-wide Morro Bay site and now some adjacent areas closer to shore, with some overlapping the existing Morro Bay site.

“I can’t see why the Navy claims thousands of miles of the eastern Pacific and won’t allow wind energy in one little box on the map,” Endersby said, adding that moving the site nearer to the shore would located it in more shallow fishing waters.

(Read the full new article at wind-watch.org HERE)