A Seattle-based wind developer has applied for permission to build a floating offshore wind facility in the Pacific Ocean off Washington’s coast.

Trident Winds this month submitted an unsolicited lease request to the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to build up to 2,000 MW of floating offshore wind (FOSW) roughly 43 miles west of Grays Harbor and Aberdeen, Wash., at the southern edge of the Olympic Peninsula.

The Olympic Wind project has the potential to become the first FOSW wind farm off Washington’s coast — and the West Coast.

Trident Winds has not determined the number and capacity of individual turbines needed, or the size of the floating platforms, company CEO Alla Weinstein told NetZero Insider. The expected budget has not been nailed down, but construction would begin in 2028 and finish in 2030, if Trident Winds obtains a green light from BOEM.

“There is a lot of interest,” Weinstein said. “There is a lot of [investor] money available.” 

Trident is choosing to locate the site 40 miles offshore to avoid shipping lanes and U.S. Navy ship routes, Weinstein said. The location’s average wind speeds are eight meters per second, and the winds peak in winter, she said. 

A derrick-like offshore wind turbine usually needs to reach 100-200 feet below the ocean’s surface. Weinstein said the Olympic project will likely be held in place by cables reaching to depths of 700-1,000 feet.

BOEM will review the proposal to confirm that Trident meets federal legal, technical and financial qualifications to hold a lease on the outer continental shelf for offshore wind turbines. If the company qualifies, the federal agency will advertise for other potential developers to bid for the site.

Weinstein founded another company, Principle Power, that made an unsolicited lease request for a wind farm off the Oregon coast in 2013, she said. That project died during discussions with state and federal officials.