photo credit: Courtesy of BOEM

In less than a decade, the idea of harnessing the wind's energy over the Pacific ocean to generate electricity has gone from abstraction to action.

Off the coast of California, there are three general areas where scientists say the wind blows strong enough and dependable enough to warrant the cost of building and installing massive windmills.

Two of those areas are off the Central Coast, in San Luis Obispo County. The third is in federal waters off the coast of Humboldt County.

In December, the federal government conducted a lease auction for those areas. A handful of large companies won and paid for the right to develop and install wind farms in each area, hundreds of square miles in size.

On May 8, the California Energy Commission hosted a symposium on offshore wind in Sacramento.

KRCB's Greta Mart was there.and spoke to Sonoma County and North Coast California Assembly member Jim Wood about a planned new port in Humboldt Bay.

A note about the audio...they spoke in a crowded auditorium...but we thought you'd be interested in what Wood had to say about the nascent offshore wind industry in California and what's being envisioned...

PLAY AUDIO CLIP ABOVE

Clean...green...viable energy. That was North Bay state Assembly member Jim Wood, speaking with KRCB's Greta Mart about the growing California offshore wind industry, and what it will mean for the North Coast.