Trident Winds Eyes Floating Turbines Offshore Morro Bay

A wind energy company has reached out to the owners of shuttered power plant in Morro Bay as well to the city over the use of their facilities for its renewable energy project.

Namely, Trident Winds LLC, is considering building a project comprising 100 floating turbines offshore Morro Bay.

The company plans running export cables from the turbines located 15 miles offshore through outfall pipeline to the Morro Bay Power Plant switchyard where it would connect to the grid.

Trident Winds needs to negotiate the use of outfall with the city while the switchyard is a property of Dynegy.

City Manager Dave Buckingham said: “The city is not negotiating with Trident or any entities considering the purchase of the Morro Bay Power Plant, but is in dialogue with Trident to find where mutual interests lie in an open and transparent manner.”

Dynegy, after shutting down the gas-fired power plant in Morro Bay, has considered an option of using the site to harness energy from the ocean.

Earlier, Dynegy, together with consulting firm GWave, received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to test a wave-energy facility.

However, the two renewable energy projects are independent of one another.