September 5, 2024 — Supply chain problems have repeatedly been cited by wind farm developers as one of the problems they face and now another one of the first projects planned for New Jersey is asking for a pause in its planning process citing a lack of a manufacturer for its turbines and blades. The setbacks for the project known as Leading Light Wind is another issue for New Jersey which has faced repeated challenges in getting its offshore wind development pipeline going.
The project when it won state approval in January 2024 billed itself “as the largest competitively awarded offshore wind project in the U.S.” Being developed in a partnership between Invenergy and energyRe with investors including Blackstone Infrastructure the plan calls for a massive 2.4 GW wind farm to be located approximately 40 miles off the southern New Jersey coast. They won nearly 84,000 acres with a bid of $645 million in the highly competitive 2022 New York Bight auction. New Jersey selected it in January 2024 as one of two projects in its third-round solicitation which was billed as a restart after the disappointment when Ørsted canceled two large projects.