December 26, 2023 — An anti-offshore wind organization suffered a loss Wednesday when a state agency dismissed its petition to open a hearing that would have affected the income of Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, a 1.5-gigawatt project that will be built off Long Beach Island.
The organization Save Long Beach Island Inc., or Save LBI, petitioned the state Board of Public Utilities for a hearing, saying the board should decrease the value of Atlantic Shores’ Offshore Wind Renewable Energy Certificates, better known as ORECs.
Renewable energy certificates, including those for offshore wind projects, determine how much electricity customers pay for renewable energy and are issued for each megawatt-hour of electricity generated for the power grid. The prices are calculated through the costs of equipment, construction and operational costs, project revenue, tax incentives, grants and other subsidies and expenses for a project.
In August, Save LBI filed a petition for a hearing from the Board of Public Utilities and argued Atlantic Shores’ OREC prices were too high. The organization said in its filing that the OREC calculation did not include impacts on local tourism and commercial fisheries, miscalculated the social cost of carbon, and “misrepresent(ed) statewide impacts.”
“They’re simply not calculating these benefits and costs correctly,” said Bob Stern, president of Save LBI.