By Tom Johnson, NJ Spotlight ‘
In what is turning into a hugely competitive bidding process, 13 developers have submitted proposals for 80 transmission projects to bring power from offshore wind farms to New Jersey customers.
The bids involve a range of projects dealing with upgrades to power lines on land, beach crossings, and efforts to connect offshore wind farms and facilities. The 80 projects are being reviewed jointly by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and the nation’s largest grid operator, the PJM Interconnection.
Upgrading the transmission grid is potentially one of the most critical components in whether the state succeeds in achieving the Murphy administration’s goal of having enough offshore wind turbines to generate 7,500 megawatts of electricity by 2035.
“Transmission is never the sexy part of energy, but it’s the most critical. It is hugely important to make offshore wind work,’’ said Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey and a strong supporter of developing more offshore wind farms.
The transmission upgrades are expected to be costly. In 2020, the Business Network for Offshore Wind projected that if all the offshore wind farms proposed by New Jersey and four other coastal states are built, it could result in offshore transmission costs of between $15 billion and $20 billion.
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