Offshore

Previous bidder tries again with new offshore wind proposal in New Jersey

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Previous bidder tries again with new offshore wind proposal in New Jersey
(Photo by Nicholas Doherty on Unsplash)

A partnership that proposed an offshore wind farm in New Jersey last year but was not selected by state utility regulators to move forward with it is trying again.

Community Offshore Wind said Thursday it had submitted a bid a day earlier to build a wind farm off the state’s southern coast. It would generate 1.3 GW of electricity and would be located 37 miles off Barnegat Light on Long Beach Island. The companies involved did not say how many wind turbines would be included.

The project is a partnership between Essen, Germany-based RWE, and New York-based National Grid.

In April this year, NYSERDA announced the conclusion of its third offshore wind solicitation without granting final awards to any projects. On October 24, 2023, NYSERDA provisionally awarded three offshore wind projects, including Community Offshore Wind. subject to the successful conclusion of contract negotiations. Those provisionally awarded projects, totaling more than 4 GW of clean energy, were supposed to begin commercial operation around 2030. 

“Community Offshore Wind was not awarded a project in New Jersey’s third solicitation, but this solicitation provides an exciting new opportunity,” company spokeswoman Molly Gilson said.

The companies would not say how, if at all, this bid differs from the one it submitted last year. If it is selected, the project could begin construction in 2027 or 2028, and become operational by 2031, the companies said.

Community Offshore Wind thus became the last of the three bidders who submitted plans by Wednesday’s 5 p.m. deadline to publicly identify itself.

It joins Attentive Energy, which also has preliminary approval for a wind farm 42 miles (67 kilometers) off Seaside Heights, and which is proposing an additional project in the same general area. That project is a joint venture between Paris-based TotalEnergies and London-based Corio Generation.

The second project would be capable of powering about 650,000 homes, and it is a partnership among TotalEnergies, Corio Generation, and New York-based Rise Light & Power.

Attentive Energy said it is not seeking to re-bid the terms of the preliminary approval it received from New Jersey utility regulators in January.

But Atlantic Shores, which also has preliminary approval for a two-phase project off southern New Jersey, said Wednesday that it is seeking to re-bid its project. The company did not respond to multiple requests to clarify what it is seeking to change in the new bid, and how, if at all, its project might change under a new bid.

New Jersey has set ambitious goals to become the East Coast hub of the offshore wind industry. It built a manufacturing facility for wind turbine components in the southern part of the state to help support the growth of the industry here.

New Jersey has become the epicenter of resident and political opposition to offshore wind, with numerous community groups and elected officials — most of them Republicans — saying the industry is harmful to the environment and inherently unprofitable.

One of the most vocal groups, Protect Our Coast NJ, said Atlantic Shores previously agreed to a price of $86 per MWh, but now wants more.

“By going back to the feeding trough, these price-gouging hogs are looking for a bigger payday from the New Jersey BPU and” the administration of Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, the group said in a statement Thursday. “We plan to work together with other grassroots groups to oppose the bait-and-switch tactics that this rebid represents.”

Supporters say widespread use of wind and solar energy is essential to move away from the burning of fossil fuels, which contributes to climate change.

In May, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) announced the acceleration of the state’s offshore wind solicitation schedule, expediting the projected opening of its fifth offshore wind solicitation from Q3 2026 to Q2 2025.

“Offshore wind development remains a once-in-a-generation opportunity that will result in significant economic and environmental benefits throughout the Garden State,” Governor Murphy said at the time. “At this pivotal inflection point for the industry both in New Jersey and across the nation, it’s critical that we remain committed to delivering on the promise of thousands of family-sustaining, union jobs, and cleaner air for generations to come.”

2023 was a record year for wind power; the world installed 117 GW of new wind capacity in 2023, a 50% increase from the year before, making it the best year for new wind projects on record, according to the latest Global Wind Report.

However, the offshore wind industry has been grappling with uncertainties recently; multiple PPAs have ended and developers and utilities have backed out of some projects.

A recent report released by the American Clean Power Association (ACP) projects about 14 GW of wind capacity offshore U.S. coastlines by 2030, significantly shy of the goal of 30 GW set by the Biden administration in 2021.

The 2024 Offshore Wind Market Report projects $65 billion will be invested in offshore wind projects by 2030. There are currently 12 GW of projects with active offtake agreements, including 4 GW under active construction at Vineyard Wind, Revolution Wind, and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind. China is the global leader in offshore wind capacity, with nearly 38 GW. There is merely 174 MW of offshore wind capacity currently installed in the United States as of June 30.

According to the report, there is 56 GW under development across 37 leases in the United States. Market analysts forecast 30 GW deployed by 2033 and 40 GW online by 2035, quickly making up ground behind the assumedly missed 2030 goal. These outlooks build on the 7.6 GW of offshore wind projects seeking to be operational by the end of 2027, per ACP.

This article contains reporting from the Associated Press.

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