On January 11, 2024, the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation & Conservation District committed to developing a green terminal strategy for the new offshore wind terminal. This is a big win for Humboldt Bay and the climate!
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The Port of Virginia rang in the New Year by celebrating an impressive accomplishment: it is now entirely powered by clean energy, becoming the first East Coast port to accomplish the feat.The Port of Virginia is powering all of its terminals with electricity from clean resources and accelerating its goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2040. This milestone puts the port eight years ahead of its original 2032 benchmark of using clean energy to power operations.The port was already sourcing some of its electricity for its on-terminal cargo operations from renewable sources and a power purchase agreement approved by the Virginia Port Authority Board of Commissioners meant to expand access to clean energy. The agreement allowed the Virginia Department of Energy to allocate an additional 10% of the energy from 345 MW of solar projects from Dominion Energy along with the port’s proportionate share of the original contract.Keep Reading
On Thursday, the Humboldt Bay Harbor District, which manages the port, committed to using electricity instead of diesel to power the terminal’s machinery. The net-zero emissions goal will be implemented as the harbor develops a terminal where giant offshore wind turbines will be built.In the coming years, Humboldt Bay is expected to be one of the leading ports for the deployment of floating offshore wind turbines on the West Coast. But that requires a new terminal built from the ground up.Matthew Simmons from the Environmental Protection Information Center said a green terminal is a no-brainer, since California has already set green-energy targets in the coming years.“If we were to build it all out with fossil fuels today, and then have to undo it and rebuild it all with electricity in 20 years, that would end up costing quite a lot more," Simmons said. "So building it right the first time is gonna save us money in the long run.”Keep Reading
The Regional Wildlife Science Collaborative for Offshore Wind (RWSC) released a historic research plan that sets priorities for all stakeholders to fully avoid, minimize, and mitigate any harms to wildlife caused by offshore wind energy development in much of the U.S. Atlantic Ocean. The new plan is the first of its kind in establishing a collaborative regional approach to study potential effects of offshore wind on birds as well as marine mammals, sea turtles, bats, fish, and ocean habitats along the East Coast.Read More
A tiny government organization with authority over a major wind project off the Humboldt County coast is voting tonight on a proposal to keep the port green.The Humboldt Bay Harbor District is proposing to draw up a strategy to keep emissions as minimal as possible at the port, where plans call for assembling 1,100-foot turbines to be tugged 30 miles offshore.It’s not yet clear what all that will take, particularly given challenges with transmission and distribution capacity in the region. An engineering firm is figuring it out. But local environmental organizations, residents, tribes and labor have made clear they’ll insist on it, said Jennifer Kalt, executive director of the nonprofit Humboldt Waterkeeper.“We have this renewable energy project, and we don’t want a fossil fuel-spewing port to go with that,” Kalt said.The requirements — which could include electric boats, construction equipment and cranes — will almost certainly drive up the cost of the project, scheduled to come online in the mid-2030s. But the California Air Resources Board is already greening ports, and EPA is helping pay to electrify them.The plan, scheduled to be finalized by March 2025, has support from Crowley, the international company that has been negotiating with the harbor district to build out the port’s wind infrastructure.“The district’s resolution represents an important step in incorporating sustainability into the offshore wind industry, not only in Humboldt, but in California and beyond,” Amy Monier, the company’s director of projects, said in an emailed statement. — Wes VenteicherRead the Full Article
