BOSTON and TORONTO, December 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Ocean Winds (OW) and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) are pleased to announce that their newly formed offshore wind joint venture, Golden State Wind, has been awarded a acreage lease by the US Bureau of Ocean Energy of 80,418 acres has received Management (BOEM) in the Morro Bay Area off the central coast of California.

Golden State Wind, a joint venture between Ocean Winds and CPP Investments, wins 2 GW of California wind power lease

The awarded lease, OCS-P 0564, is one of five locations off the coast of California that was the subject of an auction by BOEM. This auction is particularly notable as it is the first floating offshore wind lease sale in the country and the first offshore wind lease sale of any kind on the west coast.

OW has over 10 years of experience in the floating offshore wind farm, notably through the development and operation of Windfloat Atlantic, the world’s first fully commercially operated floating offshore wind farm. OW has an extensive portfolio of floating projects in Europe and South Korea and is ideally positioned to bring this technology to the Golden State.

Golden State Wind’s winning bid for lease area OCS-P 0564 was $150.3 million, with OW and CPP Investments each investing 50% in the project. When fully built and operational, the lease could accommodate approximately 2 GW of offshore wind energy and generate enough energy to power the equivalent of 900,000 homes. This brings the US and California Closer to their clean energy goals of 15 GW of floating offshore wind in the US by 2035 and 5 GW by 2030 California – Build a new domestic industry, create jobs for Californians and boost the local economy.

As part of Golden State Wind’s successful bid, OW and CPP Investments are committed to investing 30 million dollars in workforce development and supply chain initiatives and working closely with key local stakeholders to…