By JF Grodeska
TRENTON – Last month, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) and Gov. Phil Murphy released a statement announcing the acceleration of the state’s offshore wind solicitation schedule. This advancement fits the state’s energy goals of becoming the East Coast leader in offshore wind power and deriving 100% of its energy from clean sources by 2035.
As of May, three preliminary approved wind projects are planned off the New Jersey coast. Leading Light Wind will be built 40 miles off Long Beach Island and consist of up to 100 wind turbines, producing enough energy to power 1 million homes. The project is a collaboration between Invenergy, a Chicago-based company, and energyRe, a New York company.
Attentive Energy Two will be constructed 42 miles off Seaside Heights. Due to the curvature of the Earth, the turbines would not be visible from the shoreline. It is a joint venture between TotalEnergies of Paris, France, and London-based Corio Generation. The project is estimated to power over 650,000 homes.
Atlantic Shores is a partnership between Shell New Energies US LLC and EDFRE Offshore Development LLC. The project would generate enough energy to power 700,000 homes and be built 8.4 miles off the coast of Long Beach Island.
The BPU is giving interested companies until July 10 to submit proposals for this fourth offshore wind farm solicitation.
At first glance, the Two River area seems to have been spared the brunt of the state’s offshore wind farm development. But not really. Approximately 17 miles off the coast of Sandy Hook is the proposed site of New York’s Empire Wind Project. According to the Bureau of Ocean Management, “The project proposes up to 147 wind turbines and up to 2 offshore substations with two cable routes located 12 nautical miles (nm) from Long Island, New York and 16.9 nm from Long Branch, New Jersey.”
In these wind farms, the state of New Jersey sees benefits to residents, such as potentially lower electricity prices, a plethora of new jobs, and cutting emissions from traditional coal-fired power generation plants. Some environmental groups agree. The Sierra Club issued a statement on its website admitting that “Sourcing some of our energy from wind is essential if we want to transition from a fossil fuel economy.”
In its official statement, Clean Ocean Action, the environmental group based in Long Branch, said it is “not opposed to responsible and reasonable offshore wind (OSW) development that supports and sustains a healthy ocean.”
However, it calls the current OSW development “reckless.” It cites the “record number” of dolphin and whale deaths in 2023, which it said “coincide with unprecedented and extensive offshore wind development activities, including sonar and seismic surveys which are known to pose risks to marine mammals.”
None of the necropsies performed on the animals conclusively implicated offshore wind development activities in the deaths.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), “At this point, there is no scientific evidence that noise resulting from offshore wind site characterization surveys could potentially cause whale deaths. There are no known links between large whale deaths and ongoing offshore wind activities.” NOAA said it will continue to gather data and “explore how sound, vessel, and other human activities in the marine environment impact whales and other marine mammals.”
In March 2024, the Murphy Administration announced $3.7 million in funding for an offshore wind research and monitoring initiative managed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP). The initiative attempts to balance “a rigorous scientific approach to uphold the State’s mandate to protect and responsibly manage New Jersey’s coastal and marine resources while supporting” the state’s Energy Master Plan and response to climate change.
Despite identifying the need to carefully monitor and analyze the ecological impact of offshore wind farms, the state is pushing ahead with its commitment to wind farm development.
The article originally appeared in the June 27 – July 3, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
