ACCESS NUMBER: M15PD00019

STUDY TITLE: Determining the Infrastructure Needs to Support Offshore Floating Wind and MHK 

Facilities on the Pacific West Coast 

REPORT TITLE: Determining the Infrastructure Needs to Support Offshore Floating Wind and Marine

Hydrokinetic Facilities on the Pacific West Coast and Hawaii

CONTRACT NUMBER: M15PD00019

SPONSORING OCS REGION: Pacific

APPLICABLE PLANNING AREA(S): Northern California, Central California, Southern California, 

Washington-Oregon, Hawaii

FISCAL YEAR(S) OF PROJECT FUNDING: FY 2015

COMPLETION DATE OF REPORT: March 3, 2016

COST(S) BY FISCAL YEAR: FY 2015: $105,084

CUMULATIVE PROJECT COST: $105,084

PROJECT MANAGER: Leo Lentsch

AFFILIATION (OF PROJECT MANAGER): ICF International

ADDRESS: 630 K Street, Suite 400, Sacramento, CA 95814-3300

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR(S)*

: Aaron Porter, Shane Phillips

KEY WORDS: port infrastructure, offshore floating wind, offshore wind, marine hydrokinetic, Pacific 

OCS, Hawaii, vessels, database

BACKGROUND: 

As the offshore renewable industry continues to develop and grow, the capabilities of established port 

facilities need to be assessed as to their ability to support the expanding offshore floating wind (OFW) 

and marine hydrokinetic industries (MHK). This study evaluates the current infrastructure and vessel 

requirements and capabilities existing on the Pacific West Coast of the United States and the Hawaiian 

islands of Oahu, Maui, and Kauai to support this burgeoning offshore renewable energy industry. The 

Pacific Coast and Hawaiian Islands are characterized by rapidly increasing water depths that exceed the 

feasible limits of fixed platforms on the OCS, making the West Coast more suitable to floating wind 

technology. The assessment of the infrastructure and available support facilities, vessels, and equipment 

necessary to support offshore renewable energy activities contained in this report will aid in BOEM 

environmental reviews, evaluations, and development of mitigation measures designed to ensure 

environmentally safe and sound operations from offshore renewable energy activities. Understanding the 

infrastructure needs of the offshore renewable industry will help to identify the port-related requirements 

for OFW development and MHK and assess the utilization of the available marine equipment and 

facilities along the U.S. West Coast.

OBJECTIVES: 

The project objectives were to: 1) assess infrastructure needs on the Pacific West Coast and islands of 

Oahu, Maui, and Kauai to support offshore floating wind and MHK; 2) detail the vessel requirements and 

characteristics of OFW and MHK; 3) determine capabilities to support commercial offshore floating wind 

and MHK and inventory Pacific West Coast and Hawaiian candidate port facilities and characteristics and 

provide recommendations for candidate ports for each state on the Pacific coast and Hawaii; and 4) 

transfer data obtained during the study to an ArcGIS geodatabase.

DESCRIPTION: 

The capabilities of established port facilities to support OFW and MHK technologies and functions were 

assessed in this study by evaluating the estimated fleet requirements, navigation requirements, port 

facility infrastructure, and supply chain characteristics of Pacific West Coast and Hawaii ports likely able 

to support an offshore renewable industry. Based on existing technology, this study presents assessments 

of ports following a conceptual-level scoring matrix, relative to technology and function specific criteria. 
ACCESS NUMBER: M15PD00019

The scoring matrix is intended to estimate the relative levels of investment to support commercial-scale 

OFW and MHK, based upon existing installation technology. Ports were assessed on their existing and 

potential suitability, relative to the developed study criteria, to support development OFW and MHK 

industries.

The OFW and MHK industries are both in early stages of development, with no large-scale offshore 

energy farms yet deployed globally. Evaluation criteria for this study were developed based on existing 

information, existing installation technology, similar industries, and assumed device characteristics. These 

requirements are based on review of the estimated vessel fleet, characteristics of offshore wind and MHK 

port facilities in Europe, literature review of potential requirements for fixed foundation offshore wind 

farms in the U.S., and other guidelines. These criteria were used to develop the database of existing West 

Coast and Hawaiian Ports, a geodatabase to graphically store spatial and non-spatial port data and 

evaluate those ports relative to infrastructure requirements based upon different classifications of ports 

identified (i.e., Assembly, Fabrication and Construction, and Quick Response).

Due to the dynamic nature of a nascent industry, the basis for analyses and evaluation is in continual 

development. This study attempts to bracket the potential devices and installation technologies to provide 

a snapshot of the requirements at the present time, and potential technological developments required for 

commercial development. 

STUDY RESULTS:

Offshore wind components for 6 to 8 megawatt turbines are expected to be too large to transport over 

road or rail and will likely be fabricated where there is access to quayside areas. Therefore, a network of 

ports may likely need to be developed, with different ports providing different functions; for example, 

fabrication at a particular port and assembly at another. Additionally, it is not likely that large-scale open 

ocean installations will utilize floating barges or jack-up vessels due to the typical wave heights, long 

wave periods present in the Pacific Ocean, as well as the depths in the potential project areas. OFW 

turbines will therefore likely be assembled at a port facility or nearby sheltered water and then towed to 

the installation site. While this reduces the vessel fleet requirements, the port should be able to provide 

adequate infrastructure to assemble the turbine on site, such as a heavy duty crane, assembly area, deep 

draft berth, significant staging, storage and assembly areas, and potentially dry dock facilities. Crainage 

requirements to support OFW assembly are not currently commonly found on the Pacific West Coast 

(e.g., ~1000 ton, with lift height of approximately 300 feet), either land or water-based. For existing 

assembly technologies, ports supporting OFW assembly must have no air draft restrictions (i.e., bridges) 

between the assembly site and the open ocean. The total area of land at the high-volume international 

ports in California, Oregon, and Washington is high, but the amount of land currently available is 

relatively low to support medium (10+ acre) or large (50+ acre) exclusive-use OFW terminals. To support 

commercial-scale OFW or MHK, redevelopment or re-use of existing terminals may be required. The 

ports that have excess land and no air draft restrictions typically have more navigation channel 

restrictions. Wharf side bearing capacity is a critical element to allow for transport of the manufactured 

OFW components, and terminal-specific bearing capacity investigations should be conducted prior to use. 

Improvements in bearing capacity may be needed if existing facilities are modified for use in commercialscale fabrication or assembly. 

MHK components will not require the same crainage requirements for assembly as OFW because MHK 

components do not need to be lifted and affixed atop a tower. Cranes for MHK-related work are more 

generally available in the study area than those needed for OFW. Similar to OFW, commercial-scale 

MHK assembly and construction will likely require exclusive-use terminals depending on throughput 

requirements and the size of the OFW or MHK development. Several ports along the Columbia River 

have land with marine access and existing deep draft berths available for MHK purpose-built fabrication 

and assembly. 
ACCESS NUMBER: M15PD00019

The port network on the Pacific West Coast and Hawaii appears capable to support commercial-scale 

MHK without significant land redevelopment or construction of purpose-built marine terminals. 

Demonstration-scale floating OFW and MHK farms will likely use the vessel fleet already in use across 

the U.S. with potentially some limited specialty vessel charters for specific tasks. This will require 

advance planning of projects to secure equipment and allow the time needed for mobilization. 

The available wharf infrastructure and vessel fleet to support large offshore structure fabrication are 

generally not as available on the Pacific West Coast as compared to the U.S. Gulf Coast, U.S. East Coast, 

and Europe. The location of ports supporting construction, fabrication, and assembly is of less importance 

than access to upland space, infrastructure, and a protected harbor. Towing assembled components longer

distances is feasible, requires less investment in infrastructure, and is currently commonplace in other 

similar industries deploying large offshore floating structures. Ocean tugs are commonly available in the 

project area, but vessels required for installation of anchors and power cables are not common in the study 

area.

SIGNIFICANT CONCLUSIONS: 

Ports on the Pacific West Coast and islands of Oahu, Maui, and Kauai have various levels of existing and 

potential suitability to support both OFW and MHK. Although the Pacific West Coast currently has very 

good port infrastructure, there is no single port facility that currently has the infrastructure that would 

allow for the full fabrication, construction, and assembly of OFW technology, and development will most 

likely rely on a network of ports. Existing navigation, rail, and road access to the medium to large ports 

on the Pacific West Coast and availability of workforce are relatively good for the development of a 

commercial-scale project.

Commercial-scale OFW development requirements would exceed the current capabilities of Pacific West 

Coast and Hawaii port facilities and would require considerable investment in new wharf and upland 

infrastructure. A greater number of ports can accommodate MHK fabrication and assembly as compared 

to OFW. Considering existing technology, regional height limits preclude OFW assembly in many areas 

of the Pacific West Coast ports, although these regions are still good candidates for supporting offshore 

renewable technology fabrication. Combined with height restrictions, the energetic wave climate and 

depths in the Pacific may limit the potential OFW assembly locations in Northern California and Oregon, 

which would likely require new or upgraded terminal facilities. However, ports in Washington and 

Southern California could support OFW and MHK fabrication and assembly, due to the large 

manufacturing bases, deep draft navigation channels, and no regional height restrictions on marine traffic, 

but would likely require either additional terminal development or re-purposing of exiting terminals. Ports 

in Hawaii generally have limited space available for long-term staging, storage, and manufacturing, which 

likely precludes the capability to support commercial-scale OFW or MHK fabrication. Unlike the 

mainland U.S., which has large terminals with large acreages that could be re-purposed to support OFW 

or MHK in the long-term should the ports re-purpose them, ports in Hawaii are limited in total available 

land to be redeveloped. Assembly throughput may be limited relative to California, Oregon, and 

Washington. 

During project operations OFW or MHK energy developments were assumed to be required to be within 

two hours of the nearest coastal port facility for quick response maintenance and repair needs. The type 

and size of these vessels may have to be designed to be fully operational throughout the winter months in 

the Pacific Ocean due to its very large average wave climate, and distances between coastal ports capable 

to support the appropriate vessels. 

The Pacific West Coast has good availability of marine vessel technologies relative to the existing 

industries in those areas, but it varies from availability in other areas of the U.S. The marine vessel 

technologies currently found on the Pacific West Coast have an emphasis on protected water marine 

construction, vessel shipping industry, and cross-Pacific navigation, but less emphasis on offshore 
ACCESS NUMBER: M15PD00019

construction, operations, and service. Additionally, the ocean operating conditions are significantly more 

energetic on the Pacific West Coast on a year-round basis relative to the Gulf Coast or East Coast of the 

U.S., which will limit the available time periods for both installation and support service 

operations. Specialty vessels for assembly and installation of OFW or MHK farms have not yet been 

developed in the U.S. or Europe and may be further limited as a result of Jones Act vessel restrictions 

prohibiting foreign flagged vessels. Existing European wind farm installation jack-up vessels may not be 

available for long-term use in the U.S. as a result of Jones Act vessel restrictions or may not be suitable 

due to water depths in the study area. Water depths at potential installation sites in the study area and the 

wave climate likely preclude the use of floating cranes.

STUDY PRODUCTS: 

A. Porter and S. Phillips. 2016. Determining the Infrastructure Needs to Support Offshore Floating Wind 

and Marine Hydrokinetic Facilities on the Pacific West Coast and Hawaii. U.S. Department of the 

Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Pacific OCS Region, Camarillo, CA. OCS Study BOEM 

2016-011. 232 pp. 

GIS Staff. ICF International. 2016. ESRI Geodatabase developed from data obtained by A. Porter and S. 

Phillips. 2016. Determining the Infrastructure Needs to Support Offshore Floating Wind and Marine 

Hydrokinetic Facilities on the Pacific West Coast and Hawaii.

* P.I.’s affiliation may be different than that listed for Project Manager(s).