Photo: Port of Long Beach
“We need additional power for our zero-emission programs. One idea we have … is to build a new terminal known as Pier Wind. The Long Beach City Council had a number of suggestions and ideas, and this was one of them. Pier Wind is designed to facilitate the assembly and deployment of massive floating offshore wind turbines. This innovative project will help California meet its renewable energy goals. That goal is to move forward to a hundred percent renewable energy in the future. Once completed, the Port’s Pier Wind project will move wind turbines taller than the Eiffel Tower and we will move this to the respective lease areas up and down … Central and Northern California. Pier Wind aims to help California harness its power from (wind resources) in order to generate renewable energy at a lower cost and enhance air quality by reducing the state’s reliance on fossil fuels. Lastly, I will say Pier Wind will be the largest facility specifically designated to accommodate the assembly of offshore floating wind platforms and turbines compared to any seaport in the United States.” Mario Cordero, Executive Director, Port of Long Beach, October 13, 2023[1]
BY STAS MARGARONIS
Overview
The Port of Long Beach projects that it will begin construction on its 400 acre ‘Pier Wind’ offshore wind port in 2027 which is projected to cost $4.7 billion, according to Suzanne Plezia, Senior Director/Chief Harbor Engineer for the Port of Long Beach.
Plezia explained: “We are doing everything to meet the aggressive timeline that we put in our concept report with the start of construction in January of 2027. So, it’s a very challenging … aggressive timeline but that gets our permits in place by mid-2026 … So, we did do a cost and schedule in our concept report. The … cost is estimated at $4.7 billion in 2023 dollars.”
Plezia said that the number of floating wind turbines that will be built to meet the initial goals for offshore wind farms in Northern and Central California will depend on the power generating capacity of the wind turbines which she said would range from 15 MW to 20 MW per turbine. This would call for the construction of 400-500 floating wind turbines: “I think they’re going to be trying for 20 megawatt turbines. I think that’s what they’re hoping for … based on the press releases from each of the developers …when I added them up, they added up to 8 gigawatts … So, if it’s 8 gigawatts (i.e., 8,000 megawatts) then that’s five hundred and thirty-three 15-megawatt wind turbines or if the wind turbines generate 20 megawatts … it’s 400, right? So somewhere between 400 and 533 wind turbines.”[2]
The floating platform for each wind turbine would barely fit inside a baseball stadium such as Dodger Stadium, she said.[3]
Pier Wind could centralize the manufacture and staging of floating offshore wind turbines on the U.S. West Coast and provide a major infrastructural boost to California’s planned goal of building floating wind farms so as to generate 25 Gigawatts by 2045.
The project provides a new direction and revenue generator for Long Beach and possibly other California ports and will require major investments in heavy industrial capabilities similar to construction of offshore oil and gas platforms. It may require an international consortium of partners and suppliers.
The Port of Long Beach says it has been in contact with one Korean builder.[4]
Just as an example, floating wind turbines will be anchored in the Pacific Ocean and require 3 x 3,000 feet of anchor chain.
Other requirements will include:
- Steel fabrication and assembly
- Heavy lift capabilities
- Support vessel construction
On May 9th, 2023 the Port of Long Beach announced the following goals for Pier Wind: “The proposed Floating Offshore Wind Staging and Integration facility – known as Pier Wind – would allow for the assembly of offshore wind turbines standing as tall as the Eiffel Tower.”
The Port projects the following benefits to California’s offshore wind efforts:
- Harness the powerful wind in deep waters in order to generate renewable energy at a lower cost while enhancing air quality by reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
- Meet California’s goal of producing 25 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2045.
- Contribute toward lowering the national cost of offshore wind power by 70% by 2035.
- Place California and the United States at the forefront of floating offshore wind technology and development: the project would create jobs and economic opportunities for communities near the San Pedro Bay port complex.
Accompanying the announcement was a detailed report “PIER WIND PROJECT CONCEPT PHASE Final Conceptual Report” produced by the engineering firm Moffatt & Nichol. [5]
The report provides the following dimensions for a floating offshore wind turbine in meters:
Foundation Beam = Up to 130m x 130m
Tip Height (from water level) = Up to 335m
Draft Before Integration = 4.5m-7.5m
Draft After Integration = 6-15 m[6]
PHOTO: PORT OF LONG BEACH
Design Vessels
The report says that vessels expected to call on the proposed Pier Wind facility will include delivery vessels and semi-submersible barges.
The project will also require several types of vessels in support:
Delivery Vessels. The requirement would be based on a S2L-Type Heavy Cargo Vessel projected with a 33% expansion to be a Future Cargo Carrier with a Length Overall of 406 meters and a displacement of 288,400 MT
Semi-Submersible Barge. The semi-submersible barge will be used to transfer floating foundations from the wharf into the water. The dimensions include Length Overall of 152.4 meters and a beam of 152.4 meters.
RORO Vessels. The report says that the current industry RORO vessel is the ST-Class RORO vessel which is projected to expand by 33% into the Future RORO vessel with the following characteristics:
Length Overall = 201.3 meters
Beam = 33.7 meters
Summer draft =7.8 meters
Displacement = 41,000 MT[7]
Background
As background, the report explained that water depths off the U.S. Pacific Coast are “characterized by rapidly increasing water depths that exceed the feasible limits of traditional fixed offshore wind turbines. Thus, floating offshore wind technology is more suitable for this region. To minimize risk and ensure accurate assembly, floating offshore wind turbine systems require port facilities to fabricate the floating foundations, manufacture components, construct or assemble the turbine, and provide maintenance support.”
The study noted that “port infrastructure on the U.S. West Coast, including California, is not adequate to support the development of the offshore wind industry and significant port investment is required to develop purpose-built offshore wind port facilities. This is because offshore wind components are large and require port facilities with significant laydown area and infrastructure with heavy loading capacities to assemble the turbine systems.”
To address this issue, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) performed a study to assess California ports and identify the quantity and size of required port facilities to meet California’s offshore wind planning goals: “The study indicated there are limited existing ports that could host staging and integration (S&I) sites due to the air height requirements needed for the fully assembled units. This type of facility would receive, stage, and store offshore wind components and assemble the floating turbine system, which is then towed out to the offshore wind area. The Port of Long Beach (POLB) has the potential to play a critical role in supporting the offshore wind industry to help meet the state and federal offshore wind deployment goals.”
Consequently, the Port of Long Beach (POLB) “is evaluating the opportunity to develop an approximately 400-acre terminal known as Pier Wind. This offshore wind terminal will be developed to have the flexibility to serve any of the offshore wind industry needs (i.e., staging and integration (S&I), foundation fabrication, component manufacturing, maintenance support, etc.). In addition, the terminal will meet the physical, regulatory, and environmental requirements to accommodate the largest floating offshore wind turbine generator (WTG) components and floating foundations being developed. This report documents the engineering decisions completed during the conceptual phase of the project.”
The Concept of Pier Wind
Pier Wind is to be located within the Port of Long Beach in the Outer Harbor. The western edge of the project is on the border that separates the Port of Long Beach from the Port of Los Angeles: “Pier Wind is strategically located south (outside) of the Long Beach International Gateway Bridge resulting in no height limitations or air draft restrictions for offshore wind industry use. This is critical since the offshore wind turbines can be up to 1,100 feet tall.”
The concept phase of Pier Wind will assess the feasibility of the project with the following goals and requirements in mind:
- Complete conceptual engineering to identify the scope and cost of necessary improvements and to identify potential challenges or issues in the proposed project.
- Develop an overall project schedule and evaluate options to deliver the terminal in a cost effective and accelerated schedule in an environmentally and sustainable manner.
- Identify feasible project phasing options for early benefits and to balance funding and fill availability.
- Identify feasible business/finance model options.
- Develop strategies and project graphics to attract funding and developer interest.
- Complete the conceptual phase by April 2023 to position the project for state, federal, and private funding.
Functional Requirements
The report provided functional aspects that shall be incorporated into the project:
- Minimum water depth at the berth shall be -60 ft mean lower low water (MLLW) in the berth pocket and -80 ft MLLW outside of the berth pocket.
- To provide for the transfer of floating foundations from land to water, a sinking basin with minimum dimensions of 1,000 ft by 600 ft and maintained to a minimum depth of -100 ft MLLW will be provided between the main channel and the terminal site.
- Wet storage for floating foundations and fully integrated turbine systems will be provided at Pier Wind. Depending on the offshore wind industry’s needs, the wet storage area can provide pedestrian access and electrical service for maintaining and testing the turbine system prior to towing out.
- Dredging equipment will conform with air quality requirements as defined during the Environmental Impact Report.
- The facility “must be able to accept fill from less desirable regional sources (engineering strength, contamination, etc.) and consider phasing and construction approaches that can accommodate this material without impact to the project schedule.”
- Based on input from Jacobson Pilot Service, a 2,200-diameter navigational turning basin shall be provided on the Main Channel between the Navy Mole and terminal.
- The transportation corridor must be at least 225 ft wide to accommodate two rail lines, four vehicular lanes, and essential operation facilities (i.e., offices, warehouses, parking, electrical substations, refueling tanks, etc.). This shall also include a utility corridor for potable water, sewer, stormwater, electrical, fiber optic, telecom, etc.
- The berth shall accommodate roll-on / roll-off (RO/RO) vessels with a maximum elevation of +18 ft MLLW for offloading components directly from a delivery vessel. The berth shall have adequate fendering and mooring points to accommodate this operation.
- The north side of the terminal shall be the berthing area to provide wave protection. The north side of the terminal shall also accommodate RO/RO vessels.
- The terminal site is to be designed for a minimum site elevation of +16.5 ft MLLW on the north side and +18.5 ft MLLW on the south side to accommodate the medium-high risk aversion of +4.3 ft of sea level rise.
- The wharf must be designed for heavy lift crane operation (crawler and/or ring crane).
- The wharf and uplands shall be designed to accommodate the design vessels and the heavy lifting, transport, and storage loading associated with both wind turbine generator (WTG) components and floating foundations [i.e., cranes and self-propelled modular transporters (SPMTs)]. Based on the anticipated site use, the design uniform lives loading criteria shall be 3,000 psf for the uplands and 6,000 psf on the wharf.
- All areas accessible for crawler cranes and transporting WTG components and floating foundations shall be designed with a flexible pavement of well-graded dense grade aggregate of a minimum thickness of 3 ft on the uplands and 3 ft on the wharf.
- The marine structures are not designed for vessel or barge impact, vehicular impact, blast loading, or other impact loads.
- For delivery vessels, fenders shall be generally spaced at 50 ft, maximum, and bollards shall be generally spaced at 75 ft, maximum. This spacing requirement shall be used as guidance when laying out the fenders and bollards. However, it is recognized that in some instances the spacing will be exceeded, as needed, or require a different fender system to match structural or operational requirements (i.e., RO/RO vessels).
- The site will be designed to prevent local settlement that would inhibit self-propelled modular transporter (SPMT) movement.
- To mitigate long-term consolidation settlement during construction fill materials will be improved using wick drains and surcharge placement.
- The terminal will be designed to minimize emissions by using electrified equipment, alternative fuels, and vessel shore power.[8]
Basis of Operations
The Pier Wind terminal will be developed to have the flexibility to serve any of the offshore wind industry needs (i.e., staging and integration (S&I), foundation fabrication, component manufacturing, maintenance support, etc.). The primary anticipated activities are S&I and manufacturing, including foundation assembly. The high-level concept of operations for the site is as follows:
S&I sites, wind turbine generator (WTG), and floating foundation components including blades, nacelles, tower sections, and foundation elements “are imported to the berth via a delivery vessel. Two methods of transfer from the delivery vessel onto the wharf will be accommodated. The first method consists of using a vessel or wharf-based crane to lift the components from the vessel onto the wharf. The second method consists of a RO/RO operation. This method uses SPMTs to drive onto the vessel, onboard the components, and then transport the components off the vessel onto the wharf. In both methodologies, SPMTs are used to transport the component from the wharf to the upland storage area.”
The report notes, “This methodology is used extensively in the offshore wind industry due to its ability to handle and efficiently spread significant loads to achieve manageable applied loads on the structures and/or subgrade below. For foundation assembly sites, the terminal design will accommodate the fabrication of floating offshore wind turbine foundations on the uplands. This activity can also occur at an alternative site. If the foundation is fabricated at this facility a serial production line will likely be used where foundations are progressively constructed moving toward the wharf.”[9]
Challenges to the Supply Chain
The Port of Long Beach’s Plezia concedes the supply chain challenges will be massive: “…There are a lot of pieces of the puzzle that do need to come together. And it won’t be just Pier Wind. There’s going to be manufacturing ports that need to get developed. Vessels … need to get constructed. I would say the advantage on the West Coast for floating is, as opposed to the East and Gulf coasts, you don’t need these Turbine Installation Vessels (TIVs) to install the wind turbines into the seabed … That is a really, large, really, expensive vessel that you need for the fixed bottom. So, there’s an advantage with floating because they’re large, but they’re not the Installation Vessel…”
Plezia did concede that meeting U.S. built/Jones Act construction mandates would be challenging: “There is a challenge there on the vessel construction and meeting the Jones Act requirements … I think the best resource to look at all of the supply chain infrastructure is definitely that California port readiness plan. It lists out the number of manufacturers of blades, towers, foundation assemblies and staging integration. It lines out all of the things that are going be necessary for the 25 gigawatts and domestic manufacturing …”[10]
Component Sourcing
The California port readiness report:“FINAL REPORT July 7, 2023 AB525 PORT READINESS PLAN FINAL REPORT” was published on July 7, 2023.
It explains in its Executive Summary that:
“Assembly Bill (AB) 525 (Chiu, Chapter 231, Statutes of 2021) was signed by the Governor in 2021 and requires the Californica Energy Commission (CEC), in coordination with the California Coastal Commission, Ocean Protection Council, State Lands Commission (CSLC), Office of Planning and Research, Department of Fish and Wildlife, Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, Independent System Operator, and Public Utilities Commission (and other relevant federal, state, and local agencies as needed) to develop a strategic plan (AB 525 Strategic Plan) for offshore wind development in federal waters by June 30, 2023. On August 1, 2022, the CEC established a planning goal of 2 to 5 GW of offshore wind energy by 2030 and 25 GW by 2045 (Flint 2022).”[11]
To meet these goals, the AB 525 Strategic Plan shall include, at a minimum, the following five chapters:
- Identification of sea space, including the findings and recommendations resulting from activities undertaken pursuant to Section 25991.2 of AB 525.
- Waterfront facilities improvements plan, including facilities that could support construction and staging of foundations, manufacturing of components, final assembly, and long-term operations and maintenance, pursuant to Section 25991.3 of AB 525. Economic and workforce development and identification of port space and infrastructure, including the plan developed pursuant to Section 25991.3 of AB 525.
- Transmission planning, including the findings resulting from activities undertaken pursuant to Section 25991.4 of AB 525.
- Permitting, including the findings resulting from activities undertaken pursuant to Section 25991.5 of AB 525.
- Potential impacts on coastal resources, fisheries, Native American and Indigenous peoples, and national defense, and strategies for addressing those potential impacts.
Report Outline This report has twelve sections, below is a brief overview of each section:
Section 1: Introduction and Background – Provides background on the California offshore wind initiatives to date and previous port assessments that help inform this study.
Section 2: Identification of Sea Space – Provides assumed locations of sea space for offshore wind development to support the basis of the port evaluation.
Section 3: Floating Offshore Wind Overview – Provides an overview floating offshore wind energy area construction and operation activities.
Section 4: Offshore Wind Port Requirements – Provides an overview of offshore industry requirements for port use.
Section 5: Offshore Wind Port Demands – Determines how many port sites are needed to meet the State’s offshore wind planning goals.
Section 6: Offshore Wind Port Availability – Identifies which ports or locations in the State have available sites that can be used for various offshore wind activities.
Section 7: Environmental Considerations – Environmental evaluation and site ranking was completed using a comparative approach for the identified port sites.
Section 8: Offshore Wind Port Improvements – Provides construction cost estimates and timelines for the needed port infrastructure improvements at the identified port sites.
Section 9: Offshore Wind Port Lessons Learned – Provides lessons learned from the U.S. East Coast offshore wind ports and recommendations for the State’s port development plan.
Section 10: Recommended Port Development / Investment Plan – Provides a summary of the study and recommendations for the State’s port development and investment plan.[12]
Conclusions of AB525 PORT READINESS PLAN
The report concludes by stating that “Based on the NREL West Coast ports strategy study (NREL 2023b), it is estimated that a capital investment of $4 million is required for every 1 MW of installed floating offshore wind energy. Therefore, 25 GW of floating offshore wind requires a capital investment of approximately $100 billion. This number includes procurement and installation costs for all major components (turbines, platforms, cables, mooring, anchors, onshore substation, offshore substation) but does not include cost of port investments, transmission grid investments, cable landings, or vessel fleet construction. To put the required port investment into perspective, it is anticipated the capital investment into ports will represent approximately 10% to 15% of the cost of the wind energy area. If MF facilities are not provided in the State, the total capital investment in ports represents approximately 5% of the wind energy area project cost. When full project costs are considered (wind energy area, cable landing, transmission improvements, and vessel fleet construction) the port investment is a relatively small portion of the overall capital investment. “[13]
Some recommendations for next steps include:·
- The State’s port development strategy should consider how ports will be subsidized for project development and construction costs. Funding sources will need to be identified. The funding strategy should include incentivizing and funding early-stage port development work (site readiness, conceptual design, engineering, permitting, etc.) as this will be important to prepare the port sites in time to meet the State’s goals.
- The State’s offshore wind procurement approach coupled with the availability and timing of port funding will drive the schedule for availability of port sites for the offshore wind industry. The State’s approach to incentivizing local content and job creation within the state will significantly impact manufacturing investments into ports.
- A clear commitment to support local content and job creation increases the need for a broader network of California ports, especially the demand for MF sites. MF sites can maximize economic benefit and job creation in the State.
- A strong focus on a lower levelized cost of energy (LCOE) may lead to less investment in California ports for manufacturing resulting in a missed opportunity for job creation and economic impact.
- Committing to a schedule for future offshore leases and providing insight into the power procurement process will signal to developers and OEMs a strong backlog of projects to justify local supply chain development and manufacturing investments into California.
- Based on the work performed in this study, several items were identified that need to be further studied. The following topics are recommended for additional study:
- Evaluate the capacity of U.S. shipyards to construct the required fleet of vessels in time to support the offshore wind industry and to meet California’s deployment targets. Many new and purpose-built vessels will need to be constructed to support the offshore wind industry and meet existing requirements such as the Jones Act and CARB regulations.
- Evaluate the port space required for the fleet of tugs and other construction support vessels that will need home port and re-supply services.
- Evaluate the space needed within ports to support offshore wind end of life decommissioning activities.
- Evaluate escalation costs and distribute the port investment costs over the deployment timeline to provide decision makers with a clear understanding of the actual investment costs and the likely years when the investments need to be made.
- In addition to the work performed in this study to evaluate S&I, Tier 1 MF, and O&M, evaluate the port space required for additional flexible laydown and Tier 2 and Tier 3 needs.
- Evaluate ideal locations to serve as cable landing sites.
- Evaluate port needs to support the construction and installation of offshore electrical substations required to support the wind energy areas.”[14]
Plezia said there are plans to initially source components from Asia: “It is possible to do offshore wind by bringing in components from Asia at the very beginning. So, we could stage and integrate and get early deployment using imported component parts while manufacturing gets stood up. But you can’t do any of it unless you have staging integration. So, I emphasize staging and integration sites because they’re the linchpin in the whole port network system. Everything flows through staging integration.”[15]
In terms of sequencing Plezia explained: “The blades, nacelles and towers are brought in by the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and they will bring in the components and they get staged on the land. It’s about an 80-acre site for each staging integration site. Then heavy lift cranes will be at the quay side, and the floating foundation will be up against the quay, and the cranes will assemble each piece onto the floating foundation and build up the wind turbine with the nacelle and then they’ll put the blades on, and then that assembled unit gets commissioned, and you can get commissioned right there at the quay or at an adjacent site. Once it’s all commissioned, then it’ll get towed out to the wind farm for installation.”
Plezia does expect some floating wind turbines will be towed from the Port of Long Beach to Humboldt Bay: “It’s possible, yes. So that would be the other thing that the AB 525 Port Readiness plan outlined our towing scenarios. And so … it is feasible for the floating turbines to be towed up to the North Coast.”
Plezia says that the Port of Long Beach has been in contact with a South Korean ship and offshore oil and gas platform builder: “We did talk with one of the South Korean manufacturing companies that does the fixed platform construction and is looking to do the floating platform construction… South Korea has a very robust shipbuilding and steel fabrication industry there. And I think at the beginning of our floating offshore wind effort … that might be something that could be leveraged. There is absolutely a desire to have domestic manufacturing. And so, I think it is a balance that needs to be struck around … when it is feasible for domestic manufacturing … So, I do think South Korea is a real possibility at the beginning.”[16]
FOOTNOTES
[1] https://www.ajot.com/insights/full/ai-ports-of-long-beach-and-los-angeles-support-1.2-billion-hydrogen-grant-funding
[2] https://www.ajot.com/insights/full/ai-port-of-long-beach-4.7-billion-pier-wind-offshore-wind-port-construction-to-start-in-2027
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid
[5] https://polb.com/port-info/news-and-press/port-of-long-beach-releases-pier-wind-project-concept-05-09-2023/
[6] Moffatt & Nichol. “PIER WIND PROJECT CONCEPT PHASE Final Conceptual Report Basis of Design” April 20, 2023 p. 12
[7] Ibid, p 13
[8] https://polb.com/port-info/news-and-press/port-of-long-beach-releases-pier-wind-project-concept-05-09-2023/
[9] Cited in: https://www.ajot.com/insights/full/ai-port-of-long-beach-outlines-400-acre-pier-wind-offshore-wind-port
[10] https://www.ajot.com/insights/full/ai-port-of-long-beach-4.7-billion-pier-wind-offshore-wind-port-construction-to-start-in-2027
[11] California State Lands Commission, Moffatt & Nichol “FINAL REPORT July 7, 2023 AB525 PORT READINESS PLAN FINAL REPORT” p.1
[12] Ibid. p.2
[13] California State Lands Commission, Moffatt & Nichol “FINAL REPORT July 7, 2023 AB525 PORT READINESS PLAN FINAL REPORT” pp.115-116
[14] California State Lands Commission, Moffatt & Nichol “FINAL REPORT July 7, 2023 AB525 PORT READINESS PLAN FINAL REPORT” p.116
[15] https://www.ajot.com/insights/full/ai-port-of-long-beach-4.7-billion-pier-wind-offshore-wind-port-construction-to-start-in-2027
[16] Ibid.