AT SEA – JULY 07: Wind turbines generate electricity at the Block Island Wind Farm on July 07, 2022 near Block Island, Rhode Island. The first commercial offshore wind farm in the United States, the structures are located 3.8 miles from Block Island, Rhode Island in the Atlantic Ocean. The five-turbine, 30 MW project was developed by Deepwater Wind and began operations in December, 2016 at a cost of nearly $300 million. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities approved a fourth round of offshore wind solicitations, restarting an ambitious renewables program harried by recent withdrawals and calls for more financial aid.
The BPU’s four-member board unanimously approved a solicitation for between 1,200 and 4,000 megawatts of offshore wind capacity, with responses due by July 10.
“Advancing this solicitation really demonstrates that we are committed to seeing the economic development that offshore wind is bringing to New Jersey and will continue to bring, as well as the clean energy that is so important for the residents of the state,” said BPU President Christine Guhl-Sadovy.
The solicitation is meant to help New Jersey reach its green energy goals. Executive orders signed by Gov. Phil Murphy have called for the state to stand up 11,000 MW by 2040 and draw 100% of its energy from renewable sources by 2035.
New Jersey’s wind energy programs have faced some recent setbacks. Last October, Danish wind giant Ørsted announced it would cease development of two offshore wind farms that were expected to generate a combined 2,200 MW, citing supply chain constraints and worsening economic conditions.
In January, the board approved two bids to stand up 3,742 MW in offshore wind capacity, the first such awards since Ørsted’s withdrawal three months earlier.
During its public comment period, some residents and local elected officials called for a full moratorium on offshore wind, pointing to whale deaths federal authorities have said predate and are unconnected to wind surveying work, though such comments were far less numerous than they were during the state’s third wind solicitation, which ended in 2022.
Republicans had sought to make whale deaths a campaign issue in 2021’s legislative and gubernatorial elections, but most of that attention faded after the election.
Some local officials’ public comments raised concerns about a provision in the latest solicitation that would allow the BPU to rebid previously awarded wind projects and a separate provision providing for an inflation adjustment.
They worried Atlantic Shores, which is developing a 1,510 MW wind farm it won a contract for in July 2021, would rebid to get more money from the state.
“Atlantic Shores was fully capable of making its own economic projections concerning inflation and the global supply chain, and pricing such risks into its initial application,” six municipalities in Atlantic, Ocean, and Monmouth counties wrote in their public comments. “Atlantic Shores — not New Jersey’s ratepayers — should bear the cost of any mistakes it made.”
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