Wind Power News: New Jersey
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They are the products of the organizations or individuals noted and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch.
Ohioans cheer New Jersey’s turbine decision
Boating and environmental groups in Ohio and Michigan are cheering the New Jersey Public Utilities Commission’s decision to reject the proposed Nautilus wind farm off the Garden State, declaring that it “fails to demonstrate a net economic benefit to the state.” Organizations in Ohio and Michigan are engaged in a battle to prevent wind turbines from being built in America’s five Great Lakes. “This basis for the rejection by New Jersey’s PUCO mirrors our position that the proposed turbine farm . . . Complete story »
Offshore-wind developers and officials won’t reveal key details of proposals
There’s a lot at stake for utility customers who may end up subsidizing projects to the tune of billions of dollars Three developers are vying to build offshore-wind farms aimed at achieving the Murphy administration’s goal of building 1,100 megawatts of capacity off the Jersey coast in a process that is emerging as increasingly opaque. Details of the projects, to be subsidized by potentially billions of dollars from electric customers in New Jersey, were not forthcoming from either the state . . . Complete story »
Rejected for one offshore-wind project, company rebounds with bigger plans
It didn’t take long for EDF Renewables to get back in the game. A day after its bid to build a small pilot offshore-wind farm about three miles from Atlantic City was rejected by New Jersey regulators, the company announced a joint venture to build a much bigger wind farm further off the coast that would provide power to as many as one million homes. EDF and Shell New Energies US LLC have acquired 183,353 acres of lease area previously . . . Complete story »
Shell forms joint venture to bring offshore wind to Atlantic City
Two energy companies have acquired a 180,000-acre lease to plan an offshore wind farm off Atlantic City. Shell New Energies and EDF Renewables jointly acquired the lease from the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management for a location 8 miles from the shoreline in federal waters on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf, EDF said in a release. The area has the potential to produce 2,500 megawatts of energy and power nearly 1 million homes in a population center with high . . . Complete story »
State rejects Atlantic City offshore-wind project for third time — too pricey
The state has once again rejected a plan to build a small pilot offshore-wind project off Atlantic City, a decision seemingly at odds with the Murphy administration’s commitment to make New Jersey a national leader in an emerging clean-energy sector. The project, located in state waters 2.8 miles off the resort city, was deemed too costly to ratepayers who would finance the 25-megawatt wind farm and unable to demonstrate it would be a net economic benefit to New Jersey and . . . Complete story »
State rejects wind project off Atlantic City’s coast
For nearly a decade, Fishermen’s Energy has been on a quest to build three wind energy turbines about 2.8 miles off Atlantic City, but to no avail. The state Board of Public Utilities rejected the 25-megawatt Nautilus Offshore Wind project for the second time Tuesday, 10 years after it was initially conceived. Fishermen’s Energy did not respond to requests for comment. The plan proved too costly and showed little economic benefit, the BPU said in its ruling. It would have . . . Complete story »
NJ utilities board rejects Nautilus’ 3rd bid for offshore wind project
The state rejected a third bid for the 25-megawatt Nautilus offshore wind project nearly 3 miles off the coast of Atlantic City, saying the cost to ratepayers would be too high and the net economic benefit too low. On Tuesday, the Board of Public Utilities voted 5-0 to reject the application Nautilus Offshore Wind LLC, which was jointly managed EDF Renewables and Fishermen’s Energy. “While the exact price is confidential, this cost is much higher than similar facilities in the . . . Complete story »
League learns of wind-farm hearing; Thornton urges towns: use caution
SWAINTON – Offshore wind turbines as electricity producers are advocated by the Murphy Administration. A Dec. 13 hearing in Atlantic City before the Board of Public Utilities was discussed at the Nov. 29 Cape May County League of Municipalities meeting. Not so fast, seemed to be the tenor of comments at the session. Vicki Clark, president of the Cape May County Chamber of Commerce asked municipal officials to forward to the chamber any official resolutions that their governments passed regarding . . . Complete story »
Report maps potential environmental impacts of offshore wind energy
A four-year study of planned wind energy areas off the East Coast found that building and operating offshore wind energy arrays could affect some of the region’s most commercially valuable fish species. The report by scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was written to help the federal Bureau of Offshore Energy Management to evaluate development plans for eight offshore wind energy leases issued by the agency. Those areas, extending from the largest proposals to date off southern New . . . Complete story »
Don’t fund small offshore wind project, says ratepayer consultant
Ratepayer funds should not be spent to develop a small offshore wind project first proposed for state waters off Atlantic City by Fishermen’s Energy, according to a consultant for the Ratepayer Counsel. The funds would be better spent on large-scale projects that are already moving forward, David E. Dismukes, of Acadian Consulting Group in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, said in testimony presented to the state Board of Public Utilities earlier this month. The proposed 24-megawatt, three-turbine demonstration project was first proposed . . . Complete story »
