NJ takes another big step to build a huge offshore wind farm

New Jersey is moving forward with plans to build a giant wind farm off the coast of Atlantic City.

The state Board of Public Utilities on Wednesday approved a plan to allow two offshore wind companies, Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, and Ocean Wind II, to build wind turbines that will produce a combines 2,658 megawatts of energy.

Joe Fiordaliso, the president of the BPU, said “once these turbines are in the water they will supply power to 1.1 million homes in the state of New Jersey.”

He pointed out the BPU has already awarded the state’s first wind farm project, which is currently under federal review, to Orsted, a Danish wind farm giant.

Fiordaliso said that project will produce 1,100 megawatts, enough to power an estimated half a million homes.

He said as part of the wind farm initiative the BPU and the DEP “will manage a $26 million fund to ensure our work to combat climate change and protect our environment.”

Gov. Phil Murphy said the state’s push to develop offshore wind will mean a major step forward “to securing good union jobs, it will make New Jersey a national leader in the offshore wind industry.”

He said “we are putting New Jersey on the map as a truly global hub for the offshore wind economy and market, from a supply chain and manufacturing.”

Each individual wind farm project includes a commitment to build an assembly facility in Paulsboro that will house the components that convert the mechanical energy of the rotating blades into electrical energy.

Murphy said these latest awards are a huge step “for clean energy, for climate action and for a strong economy.”

Fiordaliso said the BPU will continue to have solicitations for additional wind farm projects every 2 years, until 2028.

At that point he said the state will reach the Murphy administration’s goal of producing 7,500 megawatts of wind power by 2035.

“We’re not down the field yet, we have a way to go,” he said, “and we will continue to carry that ball until we reach the endzone.”

He described the announcement as very exciting, “not only for us but for subsequent generations, our children, our grandchildren and their children.”

Developing offshore wind resources is a core strategy of the governor’s Energy Master Plan, which proposes to reach a plateau of 100% clean energy by 2050.

You can contact reporter David Matthau at David.Matthau@townsquaremedia.com