By Benjamin Storrow, E&E News
New Jersey’s efforts to establish a foothold in the offshore wind industry were buoyed Wednesday when it announced two new projects.
New Jersey was ground zero for offshore wind’s woes in 2023. Now, it’s a testing ground for the industry’s recovery.
New Jersey utility regulators awarded contracts Wednesday to a pair of the largest offshore wind projects ever planned in the United States. The two projects combined would generate enough power to supply 1.8 million homes and deliver an emissions cut equivalent to removing nearly 1.3 million cars from the road.
The decision by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities came on the heels of a Danish developer’s move last year to cancel two projects slated to serve the state. The cancellation dealt a major blow to Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s climate and clean energy goals and raised serious questions about the future of offshore wind in the United States.
But in awarding offshore renewable energy credits to Leading Light Wind and Attentive Energy Two, state officials said last year’s setbacks were only temporary.
Related New Jersey wind energy news:
NJ Awards 3.74 GW of New Offshore Wind to Replace Pulled Projects
New Jersey resuscitates offshore wind with two new projects
New Jersey approves two giant offshore wind power projects
“It is the clearest sign of the long-term commitment from the state of New Jersey and Gov. Murphy, and the beginning of the bounce back after a pretty crummy 2023,” said Tim Sullivan, chief executive officer of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.
Leading Light Wind would be a 2.4-gigawatt project built more than 40 miles off the New Jersey coast. It is the second-largest offshore wind farm proposed in the United States after a 2.6-GW development off Virginia that’s slated to begin construction later this year. Leading Light is a joint venture of clean energy developers Invenergy and energyRe. The pair are the first American-based developers to win a competitive contract for an offshore wind farm in the United States.
“We sort of ceded this offshore business to foreign companies” because Europe got a head start, Invenergy CEO Michael Polsky said in an interview. But he said U.S. efforts were important for American know-how and “the ability to do things.”
He said the company’s experience developing everything from onshore wind and transmission projects to a natural gas plant supplied by liquified natural gas in El Salvador would aid Invenergy in its first offshore wind venture.
“We know how to deal with new challenges,” Polsky said.
Leading Light will fully develop the 76,000-acre lease it purchased in a federal auction for $645 million. The move contrasts with other companies, which have moved to develop their federal leases in stages. However, a full build-out provides the developers with more certainty and an opportunity to achieve greater economies of scale, creating efficiencies and driving down costs.
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