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UPDATE: Atlantic Shores Awarded Largest Single Project in New Jersey

July 2, 2021 — The following was released by Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind:

The Atlantic Shores Offshore wind team is excited to share some breaking news with you! On June 30th, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities issued an order awarding Atlantic Shores a 20-year OREC (Offshore Renewable Energy Certificate) for our 1,510 MW offshore wind project, which is the largest single project award in the state and second largest awarded offshore wind project in the U.S., enough to power over 700,000 homes. In addition to affordable, renewable energy, our project includes millions of dollars in key investments for New Jersey workers, top academic institutions, environmental and community organizations, as well as the creation of a turbine nacelle assembly facility and the launch of an innovative 10 MW green hydrogen pilot. With these commitments, New Jersey is well on its way to being a national leader in green energy and innovation.

Read the full release here

Maine to ban offshore wind in state waters for 10 years

July 2, 2021 — Maine governor Janet Mills (D-ME) supports offshore wind, but those working in the lobster industry are worried that offshore wind turbines will threaten their livelihood. So the Maine legislature has unanimously approved a compromise, which Mills is expected to sign, because she introduced the proposal.

Basically, state waters will be used for fishing and recreation, and offshore wind energy will be prioritized in federal waters farther from the Maine coast.

There will be a moratorium, which will last until March 1, 2031, on projects close to the coast, and the state is working with New England Aqua Ventus on a floating offshore wind technology demonstration project, the first in the US, in federal waters.

Further, there will also be a group created called the Offshore Wind Research Consortium that will include members of fishing groups.

Read the full story at Electrek

Latest offshore wind award to triple megawatts off South Jersey

July 1, 2021 — The state awarded the right to build another 2,600 megawatts of offshore wind electric generation to two companies Wednesday, a milestone Gov. Phil Murphy celebrated during his regular COVID-19 media briefing.

“We just approved the largest combined offshore wind award in history,” Murphy said of the action by the state Board of Public Utilities on Wednesday morning. “It will triple our total capacity and strengthen our commitment to securing good union jobs and make New Jersey a national leader in the offshore wind industry.”

BPU President Joe Fiordaliso, who attended Murphy’s briefing, said Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind will build a 1,510 megawatt farm off the coast between Long Beach Island and Atlantic City, and Ørsted’s Ocean Wind will build 1,148 megawatts of the new solicitation in its leasing area in federal waters southeast of Atlantic City.

“Combined, once these turbines are in the water, they will supply power to 1.1 million homes in New Jersey,” Fiordaliso said.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City

Major wind project secures key federal approval

July 1, 2021 — Park City Wind, a second major wind project put forward by Orange-based Avangrid, is a step closer to reality after getting a key approval from federal regulators.

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued approval to go ahead with an environmental impact study for Park City Wind, an 804-megawatt offshore project under development by Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.

“This is another important milestone for Avangrid’s portfolio of offshore wind projects,” said CEO Dennis Arriola. “We look forward to working with BOEM, the Lamont Administration, community leaders and our partners to successfully develop Park City Wind and deliver clean energy to our home state of Connecticut.”

If completed, Park City Wind would be the state’s largest offshore wind project and has a commitment from the state to buy its electricity.

Read the full story at New Haven BIZ

Maine looks for offshore wind compromise with fishermen

July 1, 2021 — The Maine Legislature approved a compromise about offshore wind power in Maine that would put a moratorium on projects close to the Maine coast.

Maine’s lobster fishing industry has expressed concerns about the effect development of offshore wind power could have on its business. The state is working with New England Aqua Ventus on a project that would be the first floating offshore wind research array in the country.

The Maine Legislature unanimously approved its compromise on Wednesday and sent it to Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who is a supporter of wind power. Mills introduced the compromise proposal earlier this year. She said at the time that it was an attempt to “protect Maine’s maritime heritage and coastal economy while being out front in this new competitive industry.”

The proposal would also create a group called the Offshore Wind Research Consortium that would include members of fishing groups. It would research the impacts of offshore wind.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

PFMC to hold marine planning and offshore development online meeting July 22-23, 2021

July 1, 2021 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Pacific Fishery Management Council’s (Pacific Council) will hold an online meeting to consider information on marine planning and offshore development and activities, which is open to the public. The online meeting will be held Thursday, July 22 and Friday, 23, 2021, beginning at 9 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time and continuing until 5 p.m. or until business is completed.

Please see the meeting notice on the Council’s website for details.

For further information:

  • Please contact Pacific Fishery Management Council staff officer Mr. Kerry Griffin at 503-820-2422; toll-free 1-866-806-7204.

New Jersey awards 2,658 megawatts in biggest U.S. pact

July 1, 2021 — The EDF/Shell Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind venture and a second phase of Ørsted’s Ocean Wind project were awarded a combined 2,658 megawatts of capacity by New Jersey utilities regulators Wednesday, in what state officials call the largest U.S. combined award to date.

The vote by the state Board of Public Utilities raises the state’s total planned capacity to over 3,700 MW, nearly half of a goal of 7,500 MW by 2035 set by Gov. Phil Murphy.

The board allocated 1,510 MW to Atlantic Shores and 1,148 MW to Ocean Wind II for their neighboring federal leases off Long Beach Island and Atlantic City, N.J.

Both developers will build new manufacturing facilities at the New Jersey Wind Port planned at the mouth of the Delaware River in Salem County, and use a foundation manufacturing facility upriver at the Port of Paulsboro, state officials said. Those projects are projected to be commissioned in 2027 through 2029.

“Combined, the two projects are estimated to create 7,000 full- and or part-time jobs across the development, construction and operational phases of the projects. This yields approximately 56,000 full time equivalent job-years, as some jobs will be shorter term and others will last for many years,” according to a BPU statement. “They will also generate $3.5 billion in economic benefits and power 1.15 million homes with clean energy.”

The BPU agreement requires the developers to contribute $10,000 per megawatt of capacity – some $26 million in all – to fund environmental research initiatives and wildlife and fishery monitoring in the region, with the money administered by the BPU and state Department of Environmental Protection.

Read the full story at WorkBoat

Offshore wind projects line up for federal review

June 30, 2021 — The pipeline of offshore wind projects is coming into clearer view with federal officials this week planning to start their official review of a development that could offer as much as 2.3 gigawatts of power to northeastern states.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management plans on Wednesday to publish a notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement for Vineyard Wind South, a project of up to 130 turbines that the company, which is separately developing a project solely for Massachusetts utilities, plans to build out in phases. The first phase, 804 MW of power, is earmarked as Park City Wind and is under contract with Connecticut.

The notice of intent will kick off a 30-day public comment period during which BOEM will hold three virtual meetings to identify issues it should consider as it prepares a draft environmental impact statement which will then be subject to further review and its own approval. Earlier this month, BOEM began a similar process for Equinor’s 816-megawatt Empire Wind project that’s expected to deliver power to New York.

The Vineyard Wind South project is planned for the remaining southwestern portion of the 260 square mile lease area that will host the Massachusetts-contracted Vineyard Wind I project at the northeastern end. If the Vineyard Wind South project is fully developed, BOEM said it could include “up to 130 wind turbine generators, two to five offshore substations, inter-array cables, and up to five export cables connecting to the onshore electric grid in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, at up to three onshore substations.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Offshore wind developers fund shorebird study

June 30, 2021 — Red knot shorebirds make epic annual migrations, some logging up to 18,000 miles from the southern tip of South America to Canada and back, dropping down onto Delaware Bay beaches in May to gorge on horseshoe crab eggs.

That ancient pattern was disrupted by overharvesting of horseshoe crabs for commercial fishing bait in the 1990s. Biologists say neither the crab nor red knot populations have fully recovered yet.

Now, the prospect of dozens, perhaps hundreds of wind turbines spinning over waters on the East Coast outer continental shelf raises questions of how those structures may affect the red knot, considered a threatened species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Developers Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind LLC engaged one of the world’s top experts to find out.

“The birds jump off from Cape Cod, Brigantine, Stone Harbor,” said Larry Niles, ticking off coastal Massachusetts and New Jersey feeding grounds for the red knots. “We know the birds are going through the wind (power) areas.”

As the former chief of New Jersey’s Endangered and Non-Game Species Program, Niles started the Delaware Bay Shorebird Project, now in its 25th year of monitoring the migration. He’s now principal of Wildlife Restoration Partners, with years of experience assessing the health of red knots with other shorebirds and working on wind power studies.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

100s More Offshore Wind Turbines Greenlighted for New Jersey Coast

June 30, 2021 — New Jersey cleared the way for hundreds of wind turbines off the state’s coast in coming years through approvals Wednesday of 2,658 megawatts in offshore wind power.

Two wind farm projects were approved, and would provide enough power for 1.1 million homes, officials said.

The approvals add to the 1,100 megawatts already given the green light by New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities, which announced approval of the new projects at a special meeting. New Jersey now has approved the second-most offshore wind power of any state, behind only New York.

The two projects are a 110-turbine wind farm by Atlantic Shores, which is owned by European power companies Shell New Energies US and EDF Renewables North America, and a 82-turbine farm by Ørsted called Ocean Wind 2.

Atlantic Shores’ farm will be located about 10.5 miles off the coast of shore towns north of Atlantic City. Ørsted’s Ocean Wind 2 will be nearly 14 miles off Cape May.

But the massive amount of power still needs to get through federal permitting and navigate potential hurdles such as lawsuits from fishing interests and shore communities. None of the offshore wind farms are expected to begin construction until mid-2023 at the earliest, and the two newest projects are not expected to come online until 2027 at the earliest.

Read the full story at NBC Philadelphia