The Port of Long Beach has been awarded $20 million by the California Energy Commission to support the continued development of Pier Wind, a proposed 400-acre terminal designed for assembling and deploying floating offshore wind turbines.
As the largest recipient of funding under the agency’s Offshore Wind Energy Waterfront Facility Improvement Program, the Port will contribute an additional $11 million to complete engineering, environmental, business planning, and community outreach activities required before construction begins.
The $4.7 billion project aims to help California reach its goal of generating 25 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2045, enough to power 25 million homes.
The grant originates from Proposition 4, the 2024 voter-approved climate bond measure allocating $475 million for port infrastructure linked to offshore wind development. The Port plans to seek further Proposition 4 funds as they become available.
Pier Wind would provide staging, storage, and assembly space for offshore wind turbines as tall as the Eiffel Tower, which would be transported by sea from Long Beach to lease areas 20 to 30 miles off California’s coast. Environmental reviews are ongoing, and construction could begin as early as 2027, with partial completion expected in 2031 and full operations by 2035.
A preliminary report projects that Pier Wind could generate more than 6,000 jobs, $8 billion in labor income, $14.5 billion in economic output, and $1.3 billion in tax revenue by 2045.
The California Energy Commission’s 2024 strategic plan for offshore wind development, authorized by Assembly Bill 525, identifies ports such as Long Beach as key staging and assembly hubs. In December 2024, the California State Lands Commission and the ports of Long Beach and Humboldt signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on permitting, environmental justice, and workforce development related to offshore wind deployment.
The Port of Long Beach is a department of the City of Long Beach, California, and operates as a landlord seaport authority. It is one of the busiest seaports in the United States and a major gateway for trans-Pacific trade, specializing in containerized cargo and logistics infrastructure.
