April 22, 2024 — This week, rising costs sunk three offshore wind farm projects in New York State. After a tumultuous year on the other side of the river, New Jersey lost two large projects being built by Danish wind energy giant 0rsted. 0rsted bailed on New Jersey, and costs are continuing to rise, making previous wind energy deals unaffordable.
Can New Jersey be the next in the line of turbine dominos to fall?
April 4, 2024 — State environmental officials and utility regulators announced plans last week for their coordinated Offshore Wind Research and Monitoring Initiative, earmarking nearly $3.7 million in funding for research projects that will help ensure ecologically responsible development of offshore wind.
“As we continue to pursue a 100% clean energy economy by 2035, it’s imperative that we not only protect the interests of our ratepayers but safeguard the vitality of our marine ecosystems as well,” said Christine Guhl-Sadovy, president of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. “The Research Monitoring Initiative is a crucial piece of our comprehensive efforts to responsibly develop New Jersey’s nation-leading offshore wind industry.”
The bulk of the monies awarded is to expand the bat and bird tracking system, according to N.J. Department of Environmental Protection and Board of Public Utilities officials. The collaborative effort is being led by the American Bird Conservancy with $1.3 million to grow the existing regional network, which tracks radio-tagged birds and bats, officials said.
“This funding will result in the deployment and maintenance of 10 new land based Motus receiver stations and 10 ocean buoy stations as part of the Motus Wildlife Tracking System in strategic locations throughout New Jersey and offshore,” state officials said. “The expansion will improve regional network coverage and provide baseline data to aid researchers in assessing species migration routes to and through New Jersey airspace and offshore wind lease areas.”
March 26, 2024 — New Jersey officials pledged $3.7 million for scientific research and monitoring of the environmental impacts of offshore wind energy off the Jersey Shore.
Support for offshore wind remains politically polarized. Critics argue that construction and operation of ocean wind turbines would harm marine animals and outweigh environmental benefits.
Advocates counter that inaction on reducing greenhouse gas emissions will lead to more harm to the ocean environment due to warming water temperatures and ocean acidification.
The new award, announced Monday by New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn LaTourette and New Jersey Board of Public Utilities President Christine Guhl-Sadovy, will fund the state’s Offshore Wind Research and Monitoring Initiative.
March 25, 2024 — A group of residents spoke out Wednesday against New Jersey’s latest offshore wind energy plans, saying that approving another round of projects would harm the environment and be costly for electricity customers.
The state Board of Public Utilities is preparing its fourth solicitation for offshore wind development as part of Gov. Phil Murphy’s goal to have 11 gigawatts of energy produced by ocean wind turbines by the year 2040.
To make that deadline, the state must move ahead quickly on the lengthy approval process. More than 90% of the state’s electricity was produced by natural gas and nuclear energy in 2022, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Of the remaining 8% of the state’s energy that was produced by renewable sources, only a small fraction of a percent was generated by wind.
March 25, 2024 — With blue sky and a stiff northwest wind gusting 20 knots across Barnegat Bay, struggling into survival suits and jumping into 47-degree water at the town boat ramp was just the beginners’ class for how to abandon ship.
Imagine it in 40 knots and 20-foot seas, said instructor Dana Collyer.
“This is the most important piece of survival equipment you can have on the boat, bar none,” Collyer told fishermen at a March 21 safety course at Barnegat Light, N.J., with the non-profit group Fishing Partnership Support Services.
Collyer and other instructors coached fishermen on maintaining and tuning up survival suits. Small details matter. Collyer insisted that paraffin wax only be used to lubricate the zippers.
Even with light use in practice, the suits can be subject to wear and tear. But Coolyr added, “they’re $300. If you buy a new suit every five years, it’s not that much.”
New Jersey fishermen from surf clam and scallop boats, party and charter boats, and individual recreational boat owners came to the classes hosted by the Coast Guard Station Barnegat Light.
March 19, 2024 — A federal agency is seeking public input starting this week on a wind energy array containing as many as 157 turbines off Long Beach Island.
The Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind project would stretch from Atlantic City to Barnegat Light and at its closest approach, be 8.4 miles offshore, according to documents released by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM. The project is expected to power about 700,000 homes, according to the company’s website.
BOEM announced it would begin the environmental review for Atlantic Shore’s construction andoperations plan on Monday.
In addition to building as many as 157 turbines, construction would include eight offshore substations, a meteorological tower, two buoys for measuring wind and two cable corridors. The cable corridors will connect to the onshore grid at Sea Girt, and potentially near Asbury Park or New York City, according to BOEM.
March 19, 2024 — The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on March 18 opened two new environmental assessments of offshore wind power: one for the agency’s proposed Gulf of Maine wind energy areas, the other for the Atlantic Shores project off New Jersey.
Both proposals are hotly contested by ocean user groups, but supported by Northeast state political leaders along with the Biden administration. The processes opened March 18 with a “notice of intent” in the Federal Register, and come as the budding U.S. offshore wind industry remains under financial and supply-chain setbacks.
The Gulf of Maine wind energy area includes around 2 million acres off Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, from 23 mile to 92 miles offshore, according to BOEM. The agency says that is an 80 percent reduction from a much broader area initially examined by BOEM, and a further 43 percent down from an early draft plan.
BOEM officials say their process sought to avoid lobster and other fishing areas and habitats. In its own August 2023 summary report, the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association said BOEM should have conducted an environmental review before outlining wind energy areas, and warned of threats to lobster, haddock and endangered right whales.
In a joint statement Tuesday with 16 other New England fishing groups, NEFSA called BOEM’s planning “the culmination of a rushed development process that is poorly informed on economic, scientific, environmental and cultural issues of paramount importance. Without adequate consideration of these issues, leasing in BOEM’s WEA designation should not be pursued.”
March 18, 2024 — An offshore wind power project proposed for New Jersey would have 157 turbines and be located 8.4 miles (13.5 kilometers) from shore at its closest point, data released by the federal government Friday shows.
The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said it will begin an environmental review Monday of the Atlantic Shores project. It released key details of the project in announcing the environmental review.
New Jersey energy regulators approved Atlantic Shores’ 1,510 megawatt project in 2021. It would generate enough electricity to power more than 700,000 homes.
The federal agency said the project’s operations plan proposes two potential export cable corridors that would make landfall in Sea Girt, New Jersey, with a second one either in Asbury Park or in the New York City area, possibly on Staten Island.
March 18, 2024 — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management mapped out its next two steps in the ongoing efforts to implement the United States’ offshore wind energy program. A day after the U.S. marked the completion of its first large offshore wind farm, the agency overseeing the development process reports it is beginning the environmental review for the 1.5 GW Atlantic Shores North wind farm off New Jersey while the same time has completed the designation of a massive two-million-acre Wind Energy Area in the Gulf of Maine.
“BOEM is continuing to implement the Biden-Harris administration’s clean energy agenda, while maintaining a careful approach to prevent, reduce, and address any adverse effects on ocean users and the marine ecosystem,” said BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein. “As an integral part of our environmental assessments, we will continue to actively solicit feedback from Tribes; federal, state, and local government partners; the fishing community; and the public to help guide our actions.”
The launching of the effort to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Construction and Operation Plan for the Atlantic Shores project marks the twelfth wind energy COP environmental review they have initiated. It is another step toward the goal of 30 GW of offshore wind energy capacity in the U.S. by 2030.
March 11, 2024 — Two homeowners’ groups are challenging New Jersey’s preliminary approval of two new offshore wind power projects, saying they would be unlawfully costly to electricity customers.
Protect Our Coast New Jersey and Defend Brigantine Beach and Downbeach filed an appeal to the approval Tuesday in state court, saying that power contracts granted to the project developers violate state law.
The state Board of Public Utilities in January chose Attentive Energy LLC and Leading Light Wind LLC to build offshore wind projects.