US Approves Two Offshore Wind Farms in One Day; 2.8 GW of Projects Off New Jersey Get Green Light

July 2, 2024, by Adrijana Buljan

The US Department of the Interior (DOI) and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) have approved the 2.8 GW Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind South Project in the federal waters off New Jersey, developed by a joint venture between Shell and EDF Renewables.

BOEM issued a Record of Decision (ROD) for the proposed development, comprising the 1,510 MW Atlantic Shores South Project 1 and the 1,327 MW Atlantic Shores South Project 2, on 1 July, the same day the agency authorised the construction of Iberdrola’s New England Wind offshore wind projects.

This is the ninth project approved under the Biden-Harris administration, bringing the total offshore wind generation capacity that received approval to more than 13 GW, according to the DOI.

The Atlantic Shores South joint venture proposed up to 200 wind turbines in total and up to ten offshore substations to be installed across the two projects. BOEM has approved the installation of up to 195 wind turbines.

The federal agency released the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for two wind projects offshore New Jersey in May this year.

For Atlantic Shores South Project 1, Shell and EDF Renewables were awarded an Offshore Renewable Energy Certificate (OREC) from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities for 1,510 MW of generation capacity in June 2021.

The Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind joint venture holds leases for three offshore wind areas, which are under active development. Two of the areas are located approximately 10-20 miles (16 to 32 kilometres) off the coast of New Jersey, between Atlantic City and Barnegat Light, and one in the New York Bight.

Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind’s lease areas; Image: Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind

The lease block OCS-A 0499 off New Jersey, which was first secured by US Wind in 2015/2016 and acquired by EDF Renewables Development in 2018, was split into two areas in 2021. The southern part of the block contains Atlantic Shores South Project 1 and Atlantic Shores South Project 2, while the northern part of the block was given a new lease number, OCS-A 0549, and named Atlantic Shores North by the lease owners.

A few months ago, BOEM initiated the environmental review for the proposed Atlantic Shores North project, which could feature up to 157 wind turbines.

The joint venture also holds lease rights for lease area OCS-A 0541, which it won in the New York Bight auction in 2022 and which it currently refers to as Atlantic Shores Bight.