Where would the Humboldt wind farms be located, and how many turbines would there be?

The Humboldt Wind Energy Area (WEA) (1) is located 20–29 miles off the coast of Wigi (2)/Humboldt Bay, and comprises 132,352 acres, or 206.8 square miles. Exactly how many turbines would be placed in this space has not yet been decided by the developers and regulators, partially due to (3) the region’s uncertain future electrical transmission capacity. Recently constructed projects on the East Coast have utilized a uniform grid (4) in which turbines are placed one nautical mile apart from each other, allowing ships to navigate the wind farm and ensuring that turbines, platforms, and cables do not interfere with each other. This also may benefits birds and marine life, which have more room to maneuver between wind turbines. The Humboldt WEA could host up to 200 turbines in this pattern, but whether the same pattern would be implemented here on the West Coast is currently unknown. The NREL Representative Project Design Envelope for California published in August 2024 analyzed potential turbine spacings between 0.5 and 1.6 nautical miles. (7)