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.
Fishing industry takes more action against New York offshore wind lease
A group of fishing organizations, businesses and communities, led by the Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF), has taken more action to halt the lease of Statoil’s planned wind farm off the coast of New York. The suit, filed against the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), is seeking summary judgment and requesting the court to invalidate the lease, which was awarded to Norwegian firm Statoil to develop the New York Wind Energy Area (NY WEA) late . . .
Without funding, offshore wind project for AC hangs in limbo
ATLANTIC CITY – Ten years ago, New Jersey was poised to become the first state in the nation to build an offshore wind farm. But by December 2016, Rhode Island had won the race and the Garden State missed out on a chance to build a new industry. Now, Fishermen’s Energy’s proposed 24-megawatt, six-turbine demonstration project 3 miles off the coast of Atlantic City hangs in limbo. “We just kind of ran out of time and ran out of money,” said . . .
Stop shoving wind, solar down people’s throats
To praise President Barack Obama for the drilling ban on his way out of office (“Drilling ban godsend for New Jersey,” Dec 22 editorial) and to have other articles about saving the environment and letters to the editor asking to protect the Grand Canyon just shows how out of touch most Americans are with the rest of the world. Obama has his isolationist world view and uses climate change to compel Americans into using solar and wind energy. While environmentalists . . .
Blown deadline leaves windmill farm off New Jersey coast dead in the water
ATLANTIC CITY – A plan to build windmills off the New Jersey coast that has already burned through nearly $11 million and remains dead in the water is being cut off from further government funding. The U.S. Department of Energy says Fishermen’s Energy failed to meet a Dec. 31 deadline to have a power purchase agreement in place. The department is revoking most of the $47 million in funding it pledged to the project in 2014; about $10.6 million has been . . .
Offshore wind farms fraught with problems
The Dec. 30 story “Fishermen: not so fast with wind farm” featured a wind-turbine farm that is being proposed to be located offshore in the New York Bite. Some local fishing-industry groups are opposing this project based on their concern about potential negative impacts to their fishing grounds. There may be other potentially broader negative consequences to consider about this project. If these turbines are built to the latest scale for this technology, they will be massive. The circular cross-sectional . . .
9 months after Bayonne wind turbine’s big repair, cost is still being negotiated
BAYONNE – Nine months after the city’s wind turbine underwent complicated repairs due to a broken bearing, the cost of those repairs is still being negotiated, an official said. Bayonne Municipal Utilities Authority Executive Director Tim Boyle said on Friday that the MUA and its water contractor are still negotiating the cost with turbine manufacturer Leitner-Poma. The MUA – which will be dissolved as an autonomous agency and become a division within the city Department of Public Works on Jan. 1 – originally . . .
Fishermen: not so fast with wind farm
Could sea scallops and longfin squid be reason enough to stop an offshore wind farm on the coast of New York and New Jersey? The Fisheries Survival Fund, which represents the majority of the U.S. Atlantic scallop industry, claims the site picked for the farm is on documented fishing grounds for both commercially important species. It claims the wind turbines would shut fishermen out. The group is the lead plaintiff in a federal lawsuit filed against the Bureau of Ocean . . .
Fishing interests, New Bedford sue feds over New York wind turbines
NEW BEDFORD – The New Bedford-dominated northeastern scallop industry, aided by fishing interests in four states, is suing the federal government to try to block a 127 square-mile wind turbine development in what they say are crucial fishing grounds south of Long Island. The complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., seeks an injunction to stop a Dec. 15 auction in which the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is selling a lease on the location. The . . .
Narragansett, New Bedford join effort to delay wind farm off New York
Commercial fishing companies, trade groups and seaport communities in four states, including Narragansett and New Bedford, have asked a court to stop the federal government from auctioning off the rights to develop a huge offshore wind farm in the Atlantic Ocean between New York and New Jersey. The petition, filed Thursday in federal court in Washington, D.C., said the plan to build as many as 194 turbines in a 127-square-mile section would hurt fishermen who now cruise the area looking . . .
Bayonne’s on-again, off-again wind turbine now working
BAYONNE – The city’s on-again, off-again wind turbine was fixed late last week and has since been back up and running, according to city Municipal Utilities Authority Executive Director Tim Boyle. Workers from turbine manufacturer Leitner-Poma switched out a rotor brake part that had stopped working in early August with a new part that was shipped from Europe to Bayonne, Boyle said. The turbine has a brake to prevent the blades from spinning uncontrollably in extreme weather. When Leitner-Poma, which remotely . . .
