ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — The federal authorities gave the go-ahead Wednesday for New Jersey’s first offshore wind farm to start development, clearing the best way for the primary of at the very least three – and certain many extra – such tasks in a state making an attempt to change into the East Coast chief in wind power.
The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management permitted a development and operations plan for Ocean Wind I, a wind farm to be constructed by Danish wind power firm Orsted between 13 and 15 miles off the coast of Atlantic City. The wind farm would energy 500,000 houses.
Additional approvals from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency nonetheless should be obtained, which Orsted estimates will occur by the second quarter of 2024.
The venture already has all the main state permits it wants, stated Larry Hajna, a spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Two minor state permits stay excellent.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s motion represents the third federal approval of a commercial-scale offshore wind power venture within the U.S., becoming a member of the Vineyard Wind venture in Massachusetts and the South Fork Wind venture in Rhode Island and New York, each of which are actually underneath development.
Orsted stated it plans to start development in New Jersey this fall, “delivering on the promise of good-paying jobs, local investment and clean energy,” stated David Hardy, the corporate’s CEO for the Americas.
“Since day one, the Biden-Harris administration has worked to jump-start the offshore wind industry across the country, and today’s approval for the Ocean Wind I project is another milestone in our efforts to create good-paying union jobs while combating climate change and powering our nation,” stated U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, known as the federal approval “a pivotal inflection point not just for Orsted, but for New Jersey’s nation-leading offshore wind industry as a whole.”
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management stated Orsted will compensate fishing companies for misplaced revenues and reimburse them for misplaced or broken gear. The firm additionally will create a navigational security fund for tools upgrades, the bureau stated.
The venture would place almost 100 wind generators off the coast of southern New Jersey, the place they’d be seen from the vacationer havens of Atlantic City and Ocean City.
That has generated fierce opposition from neighborhood teams, most of whom additionally blame website preparation work for a spate of whale deaths since December. At least 60 whales have died on the U.S. East Coast since then. But three federal and one state company all say there isn’t a proof linking the deaths with offshore wind preparations.
At the request of elected officers who desire a moratorium on offshore wind tasks, the U.S. Government Accountability Office stated final month it will “review matters relating to the potential impacts of offshore wind energy development” within the northern Atlantic space between Maine and New Jersey.
Orsted additionally has approval from New Jersey to construct a second wind farm, which has but to acquire all its approvals. And a 3rd venture, Atlantic Shores, additionally has state approval however nonetheless wants federal permission to start.
Ocean Wind I’s ultimate main approval got here simply days after the New Jersey Legislature permitted a invoice final week that will give Orsted a tax break by letting it preserve federal tax credit that the corporate in any other case would have needed to go on to New Jersey ratepayers. The invoice is awaiting motion by the governor.
The tax break solely applies to Ocean Wind I. But on Monday, Atlantic Shore stated it, too, needs authorities monetary assist, warning that its venture and the roles it will create are “at risk” with out the incentives.
Atlantic Shores is a joint partnership between Shell New Energies US LLC and EDF-RE Offshore Development LLC.
The work that can start this fall on Ocean Wind I contains laying its electrical transmission cable and constructing onshore electrical substations. The tall constructions that can help wind generators, known as monopiles, are being welded, sandblasted and painted at EEW American Offshore Structures’ facility on the Port of Paulsboro throughout the Delaware River from Philadelphia International Airport.
Orsted plans to have the monopiles put in in 2024 and to have energy flowing from the venture to prospects by 2025.
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