West Coast offshore wind developers can draw on environmental lessons from projects in the Atlantic Ocean, but they must still prepare for challenges unique to the Pacific, a panel of experts said Tuesday.

Developers should also work among themselves and with independent researchers to collect and standardize as much ocean wildlife data as possible well before construction planning, as well as create “adaptive management strategies” to mitigate risks to species after turbines are in place, the experts advised.

“While wildlife risk assessment and the tools developed on the East Coast can inform development on the West Coast, the unique aspects of the West Coast must be identified and associated risks appropriately assessed and addressed,” Adam Stern, executive director of Offshore Wind California, said as he kicked off the panel discussion at the American Wind Energy Association’s Offshore Windpower Virtual Summit.

Stern noted that 14 developers responded to U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s 2018 call for information and nominations to develop offshore wind facilities off the coast of California. Interest is also building to develop off the Oregon coast as well, he added.

Sarah Courbis, marine protected species and regulatory specialist at Advisian Worley Group, provided a rundown of the myriad ecological differences between the West and East coasts.

The East Coast has a large, relatively shallow ocean shelf, with a warm Gulf Stream current that comes up year-round. In contrast, the West Coast has a very narrow shelf with a steep drop-off close to shore, characterized by changing currents over the course of the year and significant upwelling near shore, Courbis explained.

“As a result, there are differences in the wildlife and the habitats and what types of areas they use,” she said.

While both oceans are home to endangered right whales, Courbis said the southern resident killer whale would likely be a bigger concern on the West Coast.

The West Coast also has more pinniped species, such as seals, than East Coast, she said, and those species range offshore differently in the Pacific.

She also noted the many differences between bird species on the two coasts — and that species listed as endangered and threatened or “species of concern” will also be different.

Courbis advised developers to integrate environmental considerations into the process used to optimize turbine configurations for producing the most power cost-effectively.

That process “needs to consider what’s optimal for environmental impacts and permitting purposes,” she said. “If it doesn’t, you can have some very suboptimal situations that cause delays or problems with getting your authorizations, and your schedules may be thrown off.”

“We’re having this conversation early, and we have an opportunity that perhaps the East Coast didn’t have to really get ahead of development and start talking about regional data collection and standardization,” said Brita Woeck, manager of permitting and environmental affairs at Deepwater Wind.

The earlier start will give the industry a “broadscale” view of the West Coast environment, instead of leaving those details to be addressed repeatedly within the limited scope of individual wind projects, Woeck said.

“We really need to hone in on the species and specific uncertainties on the West Coast, focus our efforts now on getting those data gaps filled and look to the East Coast where we can to draw experience,” she said.

Woeck said East Coast projects will be the first to implement best practices and conduct post-construction monitoring for marine mammals, fish and birds.

“They serve as a real useful jumping-off point for taking some of those learnings and tailoring the practices to the species and habitats that are specific to the West Coast,” she said.

For the Birds

“Is offshore wind good for birds? I would say ‘yes,’” said Garry George, clean energy director at the National Audubon Society.

George cited a study by his group’s own climate scientists that found 389 species of birds worldwide would be threatened with extinction if the earth’s average temperature increases by 3 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels.

“The good news is, if we can hold warming down to 1.5 degrees Celsius, then we can actually help 75% of these birds,” George said. “Climate change is the biggest threat to birds.”

That’s why Audubon advocates for a policy of 100% clean energy and net-zero emissions by 2050, he said.

Seabird populations have already declined by about 70% since the 1950s, George said, before turning to a slide in his presentation that showed “the sum of what we pretty much know about the interaction” of floating turbines and seabirds off the California coast: “0.”

George noted that the slower progress in California OSW development has provided researchers and developers more time to gather data on the issue.

“I don’t want us to think we have to do everything now, but we have to have adaptive management plans in place” to mitigate potential detrimental outcomes from turbines, George said. As an example, he suggested improving onshore habitats and breeding grounds for seabirds.

Streamline, Standardize

Mari Smultea, CEO of Smultea Sciences, said developers on both coasts have access to numerous and extensive wildlife databases. But she advocated for streamlining that data to foster more efficient planning in the West.

“One thing I suggest for the West Coast as we develop this is that we come up with one database where we all contribute the data to the same source, because sometimes these things are spread out across different data sources,” Smultea said.

She advised that developers come together in the “preplanning” phase to review existing data and standardize collection.

Smultea said “adaptive monitoring” of species should begin once an OSW facility has commenced operations, “where we can get feedback on what’s worked and what hasn’t worked so well in the field and how we can improve that.”

OSW siting on the East Coast has become more regionalized, while the West Coast — with its larger state coastlines — remains state-focused with separate task forces managing the California, Oregon and Hawaii processes, according to Desray Reeb, a marine biologist with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

Reeb said BOEM has tried to be “proactive about stakeholder requests” and use its experience in analyzing OSW survey, site assessment and construction plans to compile “updated regulatory guidance” for developers.

“Although all these lessons are not necessarily directly transferable to the West Coast because of the environmental differences, some actually are,” she said. “I think we really are trying to take whatever we can from the East Coast experience and make the best of it on the West Coast without reinventing the wheel.”