West Coast’s First Offshore Wind Energy Coming to Oregon

The West Coast’s first offshore wind project will use floating turbine technology not found in North America. The 5-turbine project near Coos Bay in Oregon is the first offshore wind energy for the West Coast.

1 minute read

February 6, 2014, 1:00 PM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


The quickly receding depth of the Pacific Ocean along the West Coast makes it more difficult to use the anchored turbine technology used along the East Coast. So a new 30-megawatt pilot project will use five floating turbines, 15 miles off the coast near Oregon's Coos Bay. The turbines will send electricity back to dry land using a single power cable.

Seattle-based Principle Power is developing the project. Principle Power received a $4 million grant from the Department of Energy to help fund the project.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014 in AP for the Oregonian

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