The Board of Public Utilities approved a delay that will pause the 2,400-megawatt Leading Light project until December. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities approved a delay to a proposed 2,400-megawatt offshore wind farm months after the firm in charge of the project said supply chain and cost issues kept it from procuring wind turbines.
In a July filing made public earlier this month, Invenergy and EnergyRe, which received a contract for what’s called the Leading Light project in January, told state energy regulators they could not procure turbine blades because of supply disruptions and high costs. They requested a pause on the project during which it would continue survey work and planning.
“We are committed in New Jersey to our offshore wind goals. It is critical towards our fight and to mitigate climate change and I think that this action will allow Invenergy to find a suitable wind turbine supplier,” Board of Public Utilities President Christine Guhl-Sadovy said at Wednesday’s meeting.
The board’s unanimous action will stay the Jan. 24, 2024, order awarding Invenergy a contract to erect a wind farm more than 40 miles off of New Jersey’s coast until Dec. 20, 2024. The project’s original timeline called for it to begin offshore construction in 2028 and begin operating the turbines in 2031, though it was due to build some turbine components by 2027.
The state is seeking to build 11,000 megawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2040, and Gov. Phil Murphy’s energy master plan calls for the state to draw all of its electricity from renewable sources by 2035.
The delay approved Thursday is the latest roadblock to New Jersey’s ambitious clean energy goals.
Last October, Danish wind giant Ørsted announced it would cease development on offshore wind farms forecast to generate a combined 2,200 megawatts over supply chain constraints and worsening economic conditions. Leading Light was one of the first wind projects approved following Ørsted’s withdrawal.
“I’m fully confident they’ll be able to work through these hurdles and make sure that an industry which has taken over in many places in the world will apply here in New Jersey as well, and we’ll be benefitting from clean energy in the very near future,” Board of Public Utilities Commissioner Zenon Christodoulou said Wednesday.
The state in April opened a fourth round of offshore wind solicitations for between 1,200 and 4,000 megawatts of offshore wind capacity, with an application deadline of July 10.
Wind energy has drawn opposition from Republicans and some residents who charge wind surveying work has led to an increase in whale strandings and deaths and cautioned the plans would spur spikes in residents’ electricity bills.
“With this undertaking, the board has actually set out on a path to advance a political agenda and policy goals that don’t provide benefits economically or environmentally to anybody here in New Jersey,” Monmouth County resident Mike Dean told the board at a Sept. 20 hearing.
Whale strandings and deaths have been elevated since 2016 — before wind surveying work began — and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said there is no scientific evidence linking offshore wind to a rise in marine mammal deaths.