Offshore wind turbines dwarf what you drive by on land.  Offshore wind turbines are almost as tall as New York City’s 872-foot tall Rockefeller Center with three blades each 20% longer than a football field.   That’s because the bigger they are, the more wind they can capture and turn into energy.

The offshore wind energy projects now under development on the east coast of the US have steel foundations solidly fixed in the seabed.  But when water gets much deeper than 160 feet, steel foundations no longer work.

Along the west coast of the US, the water gets too deep too fast for anything but floating wind turbines.   What does that look like?

The National Weather Service says the “The most frequent wave height will be 8½ ft. (2½ m),” and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says, “Wave heights during storms may exceed 10 meters (33 feet).”

So try to picture as something as tall as Rockefeller Center floating on a platform that on a calm day is bobbing up and down 8 ½ feet, and on a stormy day, 33 feet.   Now, picture more than one hundred of them in an offshore wind farm, with groups strung together to gather energy to send on shore.

What could go wrong?  Use your imagination.  But consider the sobering fact that no one anywhere has yet to do this at a commercial stage.  California could be the first but the future of offshore wind is likely to require floating systems.