After about 18 months, an offshore wind infrastructure study on Morro Bay’s harbor is complete, showing how feasible it would be to set up support services for offshore wind energy projects.
“As the harbor is right now it would not be feasible for us to site a, for the O&M operator to site their site here in Morro Bay,” said John Craig, Morro Bay City Manager.
Craig said that current constraints include the shape of the bay, it’s depth, and the size of the vessels needed to support wind farm functions. Those include service operations vessels and crew transfer vessels, which would be up to 300 feet and 90 feet, respectively.
The study found that deeper dredging and development at the waterfront would be necessary.
Some Morro Bay residents shared their thoughts on potential development.
“Just don’t want to see the beauty of the place get ruined or the convenience where we don’t get a lot of traffic,” said John Creeden.
“No, cause the tourists come out here for our natural environment, the rock, Morro Rock we’re famous for, and the tourism would be affected especially," said Laurie Ward.
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According to the study, if offshore wind infrastructure is built in the harbor, three businesses could need to relocate — Dockside, Morro Bay Fish Company, and Morro Bay Oyster Company.
“Very critical location for us to have for our business," said Neil Maloney, Morro Bay Oyster Company owner. "We have to have something on the waterfront and our farm is two and half miles from here. We have to bring the water from the farm to the tanks that we have here in this tank facility."
Additionally, zoning codes would need to change to allow for development of the project.
“We have plans of our own. This site works specifically for us, this is a Measure D zone on the waterfront so it’s made for commercial fishermen and aquaculture falls under that,” Maloney said.
Craig says a change in zoning would go to city voters.
“Council has not shown any interest in making those changes in order to our zoning accommodate that," Craig said.
The lease sites for the wind farms are in federal waters, so determination on whether the projects themselves move forward will be made at the federal level.
