July 15, 2021 — New Jersey paved the way for hundreds of wind turbines off the state’s coast in the coming years with 2,658 MW of offshore wind approval on Wednesday.
Two wind projects have been approved, providing enough electricity for 1.1 million households, officials said.
The approval will be added to the 1,100 MW already approved by the Public Utility Commission of New Jersey, which announced the approval of the new project at a special meeting. New Jersey currently approves more offshore wind than any other state.
The two projects are a 110-turbine wind farm by Atlantic Shores owned by European utilities Shell New Energies US and EDF Renewables North America, and an 82-turbine wind farm by Ørsted called Ocean Wind 2.
The Atlantic Shores farm is about 10.5 miles from the coast of the coastal town north of Atlantic City. Ørsted’s Ocean Wind 2 is about 14 miles from Cape May.
However, a huge amount of power still needs to pass federal permits and overcome potential hurdles such as fishing and proceedings from coastal areas. Neither offshore wind farm is scheduled to begin construction by mid-2023 at the earliest, and the two latest projects are not expected to be online by 2027 at the earliest.