New Jersey Doubles Down On Offshore Wind After 2023’s Massive Failure
January 30, 2024
Guest Post by Nick Pope
Editors’ Note: Offshore wind is proving to be far more expensive and complex than proponents originally claimed, but New Jersey is going ahead with new projects anyway. This comes on the tail of delays, known future rate increases, and reports that offshore wind is killing whales and impacting fishing industries.
New Jersey is starting new offshore wind projects after two major developments effectively failed in 2023.
The state’s utility regulators green lit two major contracts on Wednesday in a bid to revitalize the state’s offshore wind dreams, months after Ørsted — one of the largest offshore wind developers in the world — pulled the plug on two massive projects off the New Jersey coast in October 2023, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) announced Wednesday. As of November 2023, New Jersey was engaged in a dispute with the company over $300 million the state says it is owed.
The two developments selected are Invenergy and energyRE’s Leading Light Wind Project and Attentive Energy LLC’s Attentive Energy Two Project, according to the NJBPU. The state is banking on the projects to eventually supply enough electricity to power 1.8 million homes.
Inflation, high borrowing costs and logistical problems plagued Ørsted’s projects for months before the company decided it had no other choice but to walk away from its investment. The company previously agreed to pay $200 million to build wind-related facilities in southern New Jersey and set aside $100 million to pay the state in the event it cancelled its projects, but the company was attempting to work its way out of those liabilities as of November 2023.
https://climaterealism.com/2024/01/blue-state-doubles-down-on-offshore-wind-after-2023s-massive-failure/
