Posted on October 10, 2025
An ambitious plan to create a 400-acre terminal to assemble and deploy floating offshore wind turbines at the Port of Long Beach has received $20 million from the California Energy Commission, POLB officials announced on Wednesday, Oct. 8.
The announcement came about a month after the Trump administration said it would move to cancel federal funding for offshore wind turbine projects, an obstacle the port is working to overcome. POLB CEO Mario Cordero, in fact, said at the time that the port would press forward on its $4.7 billion Pier Wind plan to construct the dedicated terminal where the giant turbines would be built.
“Our Pier Wind project will ensure California’s offshore wind energy goals are achieved,” Cordero said in a Wednesday statement, in which he also thanked the state commission for the funding.
The project, Cordero added, “will enhance the nation’s energy independence and strengthen the electric grid to support electrification investments across the supply chain.”
In fact, funding for projects in 11 states was rescinded by the federal government last month, including $435 million for a floating wind farm in Northern California and $47 million to boost an offshore wind project in Maryland that the Interior Department has pledged to cancel.
And on Aug. 29, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that $426.7 million that the Biden administration approved last year for wind energy projects would be revoked. That sum included money that would have helped build a new marine terminal in Humboldt Bay, near Eureka — a project tied to the Port of Long Beach plan — where huge cranes, warehouses and wharfs would be used to assemble and deploy turbines along the California and Oregon coasts.
“Wasteful wind projects are using resources that could otherwise go towards revitalizing America’s maritime industry,” Duffy said in a statement at that time. “Thanks to President (Donald) Trump, we are prioritizing real infrastructure improvements over fantasy wind projects that cost much and offer little.”
But those moves from Washington, D.C., prompted an overall uncertainty about the future of ocean wind turbine projects on both coasts.
The new state grant funding announced this week, meanwhile, comes from Proposition 4, the climate bond measure approved in 2024 by California voters. The measure set aside $475 million for port infrastructure projects connected to offshore wind development. The Port of Long Beach will seek additional Prop. 4 money for its Pier Wind project as the state releases those funds.
“California’s offshore wind energy goals cannot be achieved without onshore development at port facilities like Pier Wind,” Long Beach harbor commission President Frank Colonna said in a statement, “which will create thousands of manufacturing jobs across the U.S.”
Pier Wind, which would go on newly built land southwest of the Long Beach International Gateway Bridge, would provide a place to stage, store and assemble some of the world’s largest offshore wind turbines — standing as tall as the Eiffel Tower. The fully assembled turbines would be towed by sea from the Port of Long Beach to wind lease areas 20 to 30 miles off the coast in Central and Northern California.
The proposed project is undergoing an extensive environmental review by local, state and federal regulatory agencies as the Port of Long Beach gathers input from the community.
Construction could start as soon as 2027, with the first 200 acres completed in 2031 and the final 200 acres coming online in 2035. A recent preliminary economic impact report found that Pier Wind could create more than 6,000 jobs, and generate $8 billion in labor income, $14.5 billion in economic output and $1.3 billion in state and local taxes from now to 2045.
The California State Lands Commission, and the ports of Long Beach and Humboldt entered into an agreement in December to collaborate on permitting, community engagement, environmental justice, clean energy strategies and Native American tribal consultation to advance a multiport strategy for offshore wind deployment and workforce development.
“The $20 million award from the California Energy Commission is a commitment and investment in healthy, thriving communities and a sustainable future,” state Sen. Lena Gonzalez, D-Long Beach, said in a statement. “With this funding, the Pier Wind project will break ground, creating jobs, boosting economic growth, and propelling progress on our state’s ambitious goals for offshore wind energy and emissions reductions.”
Also weighing in was Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal, D-Long Beach.
“Despite facing significant challenges in this year’s budget,” Lowenthal said in a statement, “we remained laser-focused on investing in our priorities, including offshore wind development.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom, for his part, signed a bill last year that would streamline the design and development of Pier Wind by allowing the Port of Long Beach to use alternative construction delivery methods.
And in 2024, the California Energy Commission adopted a final strategic plan for offshore wind energy developments for the state, authorized through Assembly Bill 525. The plan references the need to prioritize seaports, like the Port of Long Beach, to serve as assembly and staging sites for wind turbines.
