June 3, 2024 — New Jersey will receive $125 million as part of a settlement over Ørsted’s withdrawal from two offshore wind farms last year, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Tuesday, an amount that is less than half of what Murphy once said the company was required to pay the state.
The settlement funds paid by the Danish wind giant over its pullout from Ocean Wind 1 and 2, two 1,100 megawatt wind farms off New Jersey’s Coast, will be used to fund wind development and other renewable energy programs, the governor’s office said. But at least one Democratic lawmaker said the money should be sent back to New Jersey ratepayers as a matter of policy.
“The [Board of Public Utilities] ought to be looking for New Jersey ratepayers first, and these moneys should be reserved to reduce ratepayers’ bills when these projects come on board, and it should be a BPU policy,” said Sen. Joe Cryan (D-Union)
Last July, Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill that would have allowed Ørsted to retain federal tax credits that would otherwise go to offset consumers’ power bills by roughly $2.40 per ratepayer per year. In return for those subsidies, the wind firm was required to post a $100 million performance security and place $200 million for wind project investments into an escrow account.