New Jersey Awards Contracts for 3.7 Gigawatts of Offshore Wind Energy

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities on Jan. 24 announced the award of two offshore wind projects totaling 3,742 megawatts in its third solicitation. This action is significant for the state’s offshore wind pursuit after Denmark-based Ørsted canceled its plans last November to develop two projects with a proposed capacity of 2.2 gigawatts off New Jersey due to supply chain challenges and rising interest rates. New Jersey has a goal of deploying 11 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2040.

The board awarded 2,400 megawatts of capacity to Leading Light Wind, a partnership between two American companies – Invenergy and energyRe. This project is the largest competitively awarded offshore wind project in the U.S., according to the developers. The wind farm would be located over 40 miles off the state’s coast and is scheduled to begin construction in 2028.

The board selected Attentive Energy Two, a joint venture of  TotalEnergies and Corio Generation, for a 1,342-megawatt project to be located about 42 miles from its nearest point in New Jersey.

Together, the projects are expected to yield $6.8 billion in economic benefits to the state and power 1.8 million homes. The bill impact of the projects for residential customers would be $6.84 per month, once they become operational and begin delivering clean electricity to the New Jersey grid.

Both the project developers have committed to help establish a tower manufacturer at the New Jersey Wind Port. They have also committed to source monopiles from, and invest in, the expansion of the EEW monopile facility at the Port of Paulsboro. Combined, the projects would create over 27,000 full-time equivalent job years.

In November, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy directed the board to launch the fourth offshore wind solicitation in early 2024, reaffirming the state’s commitment to achieving a 100 percent clean energy economy by 2035. The fourth solicitation project awards are anticipated in early 2025.