New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) announced in June 2019 the award of a contract for 1.1 GW of offshore wind. The announcement is in furtherance of the governor’s Executive Order 8, which calls for the Board of Public Utilities to procure 3.5 GW of offshore wind by 2030 (which goal was also formalized by the legislature in 2019’s A-3723).
In February 2020, the governor announced the state’s offshore wind procurement schedule, which calls for the next 1.2-gigawatt solicitation to be opened by September 2020, with an award made by the second quarter of 2021. The plan calls for four more rounds in 2022, 2024, 2026 and 2028 to achieve the state’s 7.5-gigawatt offshore wind goal by 2035.
In June 2021, the NJBPU approved a combined 2,658 megawatts of offshore wind capacity – Ørsted’s 1,148 MW Ocean Wind II and EDF and Shell’s 1,510 MW Atlantic Shores. Both will be around 15 miles off the Atlantic City coast. The two wind farms bring New Jersey’s total planned capacity to over 3.7 gigawatts and moves the state closer to its goal of 7.5 GW of offshore wind by 2035 and 100% clean energy by 2050. Somewhat surprising observers, who anticipated one project or the other to be selected, the two approvals were the US’s largest combined award to date. The two projects are expected to create 7,000 full- or part-time jobs, generate $3.5 billion in economic benefits, and power 1.15 million homes with clean energy.
On track with the Governor’s solicitation schedule, the Board anticipates opening a third offshore wind solicitation for at least 1,200 MW in 2022.
In September 2022, New Jersey’s Governor signed Executive Order 307, increasing the state’s target of 7,500 megawatts from wind turbines by 2035 to 11,000 MW by 2040. The Order also directs the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to study the feasibility of increasing the target further.