SLO County beach town could get $3 million to plan for offshore wind port
Update, April 29:
The California Energy Commission will not vote on the $3 million grant at its May meeting, an agency spokesperson told The Tribune on April 29.
The vote was postponed to allow Energy Commission staff more time to process the awards.
A new date has not yet been set for the vote, the spokesperson said.
Original story:
The Port San Luis Harbor District is poised to receive a $3 million grant from the California Energy Commission to support the planning and design of an offshore wind operations and maintenance port in Avila Beach.
The Ventura-based company Clean Energy Terminals is studying the potential of building such a port in San Luis Obispo Bay.
If built, the port would serve as a hub for monitoring the offshore wind farm in the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area and offer a place for maintenance vessels to dock.
If the harbor district wins the grant, the majority of the funds would be paid to Clean Energy Terminals to hire consultants to conduct technical studies and engage in community outreach while drawing up a port design, according to a September staff report about the grant application.
Another portion of the grant would fund the Harbor District’s staff time as they communicate with county, state and federal government officials and offshore wind developers about the prospective project, the staff report said.
At its May 8 meeting, the California Energy Commission is expected to decide on whether or not to award the grant to the harbor district, interim harbor director Matthew Ashton said.
Then, in June or July, the Harbor Commission will vote on whether or not to accept the grant, he said.
Accepting the $3 million would not require the harbor district to approve a lease or design for an operations and maintenance port in San Luis Obispo Bay, Ashton said.
Regardless of what grant funding it receives, the Harbor Commission will vote separately on whether to authorize development of the operations and maintenance port after Clean Energy Terminals completes its feasibility study, he said.
The commissioners received an update on the grant at their Tuesday meeting, which was flooded with community members who opposed port development.
Fourth-generation Avila Beach resident Tricia Bassi Boaz urged the commission to reject the grant. That’s because accepting the funding might make them feel obligated to eventually approve the project, she said.
“Cut it off now,” she said. “I know it’s really tempting nowadays to accept $3 million, but don’t do it.”
Harbor Commission president Drew Brandy, however, said the grant funding does not compel them to approve the project.
“Nobody’s made up their minds here,” he said.
Instead, the grant would allow the Harbor District to pay staff for the time it takes to analyze the project and coordinate with developers, so that the commission can make a more informed decision down the line.
“It’s not providing materials, equipment, gasoline, anything,” Brandy said of the grant. “All it’s for is for our staff to deal with whoever we need to deal with during this wind energy (analysis). So I’m not paying our tax dollars to my staff to work on wind — that’s covered with grant money.”
What could an offshore wind port look like at Avila Beach?
Clean Energy Terminals has not yet proposed an official design for the port, but the company does have ideas for how the facility may look and operate, company CEO Brian Sabina previously told The Tribune.
The heart of the port could be a 3,000-foot pier, which would match the length of the Cal Poly Pier, he said.
The pier must be long enough to reach waters of about 40 feet deep to accommodate the deep-water vessels, which would dock in a berth at the end of the pier, he said.
This port would be much smaller than the one sketched in a study developed by REACH Central Coast in 2022.
That study evaluated the potential for building a staging and integration port in San Luis Obispo Bay. Ports that large are now being considered for Long Beach or Humboldt but would not be built on the Central Coast.
A 250- to 300-foot service operation vessel would stop by the port every two to three weeks to restock supplies and pick up a fresh crew. Otherwise, survey vessels, wildlife monitoring vessels and tug boats would occasionally dock at the pier.
Onshore buildings would house a control room for monitoring the wind farm, a warehouse for spare parts, a workshop area, offices and a parking lot.
The port would not be large enough to store or transport wind turbine blades or towers, Sabina said.
All of this information, however, is hypothetical. Clean Energy Terminals has not yet proposed an official design for an operations and maintenance port in Avila Beach.
Clean Energy Terminals partnered with the Port San Luis Harbor District to study the potential of building this port.
The company paused the study for the moment and is waiting for the county to complete its own feasibility study before continuing, Ashton said.
When the study is completed, the Harbor Commission will vote to decide on whether or not to proceed with building the port.
What would the grant do?
The $3 million grant would be awarded by the California Energy Commission’s Offshore Wind Energy Waterfront Facility Improvement Program, which was created by Assembly Bill 3.
The grant will assist with planning and early-stage design of a port infrastructure project, which could include feasibility analysis and environmental analysis, the Harbor Commission’s September staff report said.
“This application is exploratory and does not commit the harbor commissioners to advance the project to a lease,” the staff report said.
The goals of the grant include “expanding the Harbor District’s capacity to effectively oversee the development” of an operations and maintenance port, conducting community engagement and working to “mature” the project’s engineering design, the staff report said.
The funding would be spent over two years, from October 2025 to 2027.
Most speakers opposed operations port in Avila
San Luis Obispo Climate Coalition volunteer Gary Walner said at public comment that he supports offshore wind development, as it will aid California’s transition away from fossil fuels and combat climate change.
“The fact is, we’ve got a problem, and if we don’t address it, and we don’t address it quickly, our children and our children’s children will have one hell of a terrible life,” he said. “It’s climate change. We have to make very important decisions, and you’re part of that.”
But most of the other speakers at public comment opposed the development of an operations and maintenance port in Avila Beach.
“There is no way that Avila can handle the traffic that this project would bring,” Avila Beach resident Chris Wilcher said. “The tourists will not drive through a traffic jam to see an industrial plant. That’s not going to happen. Is it really worth it to build this in Avila and destroy our town?”
Sheri Hafer, who serves on the board of the anti-offshore wind nonprofit organization REACT Alliance, agreed.
“Our beautiful, pristine coastline should be protected from the scourge of industrialization,” she said. “We should be more supportive of tested and proven renewable energy on a small scale, such as solar and batteries for residents and businesses, and not waste our hard earned tax dollars on fantasy boondoggles.”
This story was originally published April 25, 2025 at 10:17 AM.
