New Jersey Opens 4 GW Offshore Wind Solicitation

March 7, 2023, by Adnan Memija

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) has given the green light on the state’s third solicitation of offshore wind capacity.

This third solicitation seeks to award between 1.2 GW and 4 GW of offshore wind capacity, building on the previously awarded 3.75 GW.

The application window opened on 6 March and bids will be accepted by 23 June 2023. NJBPU anticipates making a decision on the submitted applications by the end of 2023.

This represents a significant milestone toward achieving Governor Phil Murphy’s goal of 11 GW of offshore wind energy in New Jersey by 2040, which could power 3.2 million homes with renewable energy, NJBPU said.

“Offshore wind constitutes a crucial component of our journey to 100% clean energy by 2035, a benchmark that solidifies our position at the national forefront of climate action. In addition to safeguarding our communities from the worsening impacts of climate change, this emerging industry will generate thousands of good-paying jobs and economic opportunity across the state”, said Governor Phil Murphy.

As part of NJBPU’s second offshore wind solicitation, Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind and Ocean Wind committed USD 10,000 per megawatt of project-size-awarded capacity – or approximately USD 26.5 million – to fund regional research and monitoring to assess the impacts of offshore wind on New Jersey’s natural resources, the Board said.

The Research and Monitoring Initiative will identify, prioritise, and fund projects in regional research and monitoring of marine and coastal resources before and during offshore wind development, construction, operation and maintenance, and decommissioning.

The Board is recommending that any projects selected in the third solicitation contribute funding to this initiative.

At the end of last year, NJBPU issued the draft solicitation guidance document (SGD) for the third solicitation, which also included an updated offshore wind solicitation schedule.

In March 2022, NJBPU announced that the State’s third offshore wind generation solicitation was postponed to Q1 2023 to allow for the process of selecting the transmission solution to be completed and the outcome incorporated into the guidance documents for the solicitation of offshore wind projects.

In 2019, New Jersey awarded the largest single offshore wind project in the country to Ørsted’s 1.1 GW Ocean Wind project to be built 15 miles off the coast of Atlantic City. In 2021, the second solicitation resulted in the largest combined award of 2.6 GW of offshore wind capacity to EDF/Shell’s Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind and Ørsted’s Ocean Wind II projects. To date, the Board has awarded a total of 3.7 GW of offshore wind capacity.