New offshore wind power project proposed for New Jersey Shore, but this one’s far out to sea

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — A German wind energy developer and a New York utility are teaming up to build another offshore wind power project off the New Jersey coast.

But this project would be more than twice as far out to sea as others that have drawn the ire of residents who don’t want to see windmills on the horizon.

Essen, Germany-based RWE and New York-based National Grid applied Friday to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities for permission to build a wind farm in the waters off Long Beach Island. Their joint venture is called Community Offshore Wind, and it aims to generate enough electricity to power 500,000 homes.

Unlike other projects that have drawn intense opposition from homeowners in part because they are close enough to the Atlantic City and Ocean City shorelines to be seen by beachgoers, this project would be built 37 miles (59 kilometers) offshore and would not be visible from the shore, said Doug Perkins, president and project director of Community Offshore Wind.

The deadline for New Jersey’s latest round of wind project applications was 5 p.m. EST on Friday; it was not immediately clear if additional companies had submitted new projects for scrutiny by state regulators.

Community Offshore said it has not yet determined how many wind turbines would be built as part of the project, which, if approved, would be the fourth off New Jersey’s coast.

Danish wind developer Orsted is building two wind farms, called Ocean Wind I and II. And Shell New Energies US and EDF Renewables North America are partnering on the Atlantic Shores project.

Community Offshore would not say whether it will seek the same sort of tax break that New Jersey recently approved for Orsted and which Atlantic Shores is also seeking to make its projects more profitable. That incentive is being challenged in a lawsuit brought by offshore wind opponents.

Perkins said the project has “the potential to transform New Jersey into a nation-leading clean energy development, training and manufacturing hub.”

He said his company is the second-largest wind power developer globally, following Orsted.

If approved, the project would create 1,700 jobs in New Jersey. It also includes includes funding for a Civilian Climate Corps program that would make investments in climate resilience and training for 1,500 additional jobs in three economically struggling areas: Trenton, Salem, and Newark.

The company plans a partnership with Yank Marine, a women-owned business in New Jersey, to manufacture a support vessel to deploy, dispatch, and collect technicians for operations and maintenance activities.

In February 2022, Community Offshore Wind won a 126,000-acre (49,163-hectare) lease area in the New York Bight, the area between New Jersey and Long Island, where the project announced Friday would go. It could be expanded in the future.

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