Plans Submitted to Link 6 GW of Offshore Wind Farms to New Jersey Grid

April 5, 2024, by Adnan Memija

National Grid Ventures (NGV) and Con Edison Transmission have submitted plans for building a transmission infrastructure that will connect offshore wind power to the New Jersey electricity grid.

The project, named the Garden State Energy Path, proposes laying underground cables that will enable the delivery of approximately 6 GW of offshore wind power from its point of landfall at the Sea Girt National Guard Training Center to the Larrabee Tri-Collector Station in Howell Township.

The Garden State Energy Path consists of pre-build infrastructure that will house the cables carrying electricity generated by four offshore wind projects to the New Jersey grid.

“Pre-build infrastructure is a smart and coordinated approach to transmission for offshore wind, reducing the need to separately construct transmission infrastructure for each offshore wind project,” said Will Hazelip, President of National Grid Ventures, US Northeast.

If approved, the project would be in operation by early 2029, ready for use by selected New Jersey offshore wind farms.

The Garden State Energy Path is foundational to helping New Jersey reach its goal of 11 GW of offshore wind by 2040, said the companies.

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New Jersey held three auctions for offshore wind so far, procuring 7.4 GW of generation capacity.

In 2019, the state awarded a contract to Ørsted’s 1.1 GW Ocean Wind project, which the developer recently cancelled due to additional supplier delays impacting the project schedule.

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 2 projects.

In January this year, New Jersey procured two new offshore wind projects totalling 3,742 MW. In its third offshore wind solicitation, New Jersey has selected Leading Light Wind (2,400 MW), developed by Invenergy and energyRE, and Attentive Energy Two (1,342 MW), developed by a joint venture between TotalEnergies and Corio Generation.

On 29 November 2023, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy directed the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) to launch the fourth offshore wind solicitation in early 2024, instead of the third quarter of this year, accelerating the schedule of the fourth solicitation and the state’s move to reaching its offshore wind targets.