The 2.8 gigawatt Atlantic Shores project aims to start construction next year and connect to the grid by 2029. But it still must beat legal challenges.
By Keaton Peters, Canary Media
Federal regulators gave a huge, contentious offshore wind project the green light to start construction off the coast of New Jersey.
Owned by Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, a 50-50 venture by Shell and EDF Renewables, the project received approval of air permits from the Environmental Protection Agency and of construction and operation permits from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on Tuesday.
The developer plans to install a total of about 200 wind turbines in federally owned waters between 10 and 20 miles off the Jersey shore. It’s also working with utilities to build several offshore substations and two undersea transmission lines that will connect the project to the grid near Atlantic City and farther north in Monmouth County, New Jersey.
Construction on phase one of the recently approved project, known as Atlantic Shores South, is set to begin in 2025, and it could start sending power to the grid in 2028 or 2029, according to the developer. The second phase of the project was also approved, but there is no timeline for its construction yet.
