Ocean Wind 1, New Jersey’s first offshore wind farm, announced receipt of its Record of Decision from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), successfully reaching a major milestone in the federal environmental review process.
With this milestone, Ocean Wind 1 remains on track to begin onshore construction activities in the fall of 2023, with offshore construction ramping up in 2024, according to the project’s developer, the Danish energy company Orsted.
Ocean Wind 1 will kick-start New Jersey’s role in the American offshore wind industry, powering approximately 500,000 homes with renewable energy when it begins commercial operations in 2025, Orsted said in a new release Thursday announcing federal approval for the project.
“Ocean Wind 1 is on the cusp of making history as construction on New Jersey’s first offshore wind farm is set to begin in a few short months, delivering on the promise of good-paying jobs, local investment and clean energy,” said David Hardy, Group executive vice president and CEO Americas at Orsted.
Orsted thanked a number of state and federal officials and regulatory agencies for supporting the project, including New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and the New Jersey Legislature.
“The announcement of Ocean Wind 1’s Record of Decision today represents a pivotal inflection point not just for Orsted, but for New Jersey’s nation-leading offshore wind industry as a whole,” Gov. Murphy said in the release.
“By preparing to begin onshore construction this fall, Ocean Wind 1 will help bring New Jersey one crucial step closer to achieving a 100 percent clean energy economy by 2035 and 11,000 megawatts of offshore wind power by 2040. Just as importantly, as we continue to cultivate burgeoning new industries while confronting the worsening climate crisis, our state’s first offshore wind project will generate thousands of good-paying union jobs and considerable environmental benefits for generations to come.” Murphy added.
Wind farm opponents march across the Ninth Street Bridge in Ocean City during a protest in May.
Ocean Wind is a 1,100-megawatt project located approximately 15 miles off the coast of southern New Jersey from Atlantic City to Stone Harbor. The project will generate enough electricity to provide 500,000 homes with clean, renewable energy, Orsted said. Ocean Wind 1 is expected to begin commercial operations, delivering clean energy to New Jersey in 2025, according to Orsted’s release.
However, the project has been met by intense opposition from local, county, state and federal officials representing Cape May County and the local municipalities, particularly Ocean City. The county and Ocean City are fighting in court to challenge the regulatory approvals granted to Orsted for Ocean Wind 1.
Opponents believe the project and its massive wind turbines will harm the tourism industry, property values, commercial fishing operations, marine life and migratory birds. They have blamed Orsted’s sonar mapping of the ocean floor in advance of construction of the project for at least some of the deaths of more than 30 whales that have washed ashore along the East Coast since last December.
Federal and state agencies, along with Orsted, deny that the wind farm activity was responsible for the whale deaths. They said it appears most of the whales were killed in collisions with shipping traffic.
Meanwhile, BOEM’s issuance of the Record of Decision precedes the anticipated approval of Ocean Wind 1’s Construction and Operations Plan (COP) in September. The COP outlines the detailed construction, operation and maintenance activities of a wind farm, including the responsible decommissioning at end of life, the potential impacts, actions and design alternatives, and the proposed measures to avoid, minimize and mitigate potential impacts from the project.
Ocean Wind 1 will soon move from the development and permitting phase to the construction phase, with onshore activities beginning in the fall 2023, including the project’s onshore underground transmission line and onshore substations, the release says.
