Ocean Wind

Ocean Wind was a proposed utility-scale 2,248 MW offshore wind farm to be located on the Outer Continental Shelf approximately 15 mi off the coast of Atlantic City, New Jersey. It was being developed by Ørsted US Offshore Wind in conjunction with Public Service Enterprise Group (PSE&G). Construction (in two phases of 1,100 MW and 1,148 MW) and commissioning were planned for the mid-2020s. The closed Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station and B.L. England Generating Station would provide transmission points for energy generated by the wind farm.

Ocean Wind 1 received federal approval for construction and operations on July 5, 2023, the third large-scale project to do so.

Ørsted canceled both projects on October 31, 2023, due to poor financial outlook caused by inflation and supply chain disruptions, including unavailability of a wind turbine installation vessel.

History and background
In the United States, federal waters commence 3 nautical miles offshore. The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management awarded leases for offshore wind sites in 2015. NJWEA South is offshore Atlantic County and Cape May County, where the ocean floor is 100 ft deep. The rights were later acquired by DONG Energy, which became Ørsted, parent of Ørsted US Offshore Wind. The company was selected by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) in June 2019. PSE&G later joined the project.

There is only one other utility-scale wind farm in the state, the 5-turbine Jersey-Atlantic Wind Farm. Two other projects which would provide wind power to New Jersey are Garden State Offshore Energy, Offshore Delaware in WEA OC-A 482 North opposite Rehoboth Beach, also by Ørsted US Offshore Wind,   and Atlantic Shores Wind Farm in Offshore New Jersey WEA OCS-A 0499 -183,353 acre- off the coast of Jersey Shore (mostly opposite Ocean County from Atlantic City north to Barnegat Light) by EDF Renewables/Shell. Another potential WEA is Offshore New Jersey/New York on the west/south side of Hudson Canyon 21 miles offshore opposite Monmouth County.

In September 2020, New Jersey officials delayed the project citing concerns about economic benefits of offshore wind, including construction of monopoles and negative effects on the fishing industry.

In December 2020, Ørsted put in a bid for Ocean Wind 2, a second installation of wind turbines in the same area, which the NJBPU selected in June 2021. It would be an additional 1,148 MW, for a total energy capacity at the site of 2,248 MW.

Ørsted had promised $300 million in guarantees that the project would be built but subsequently claimed they would not have to be paid after cancelling the projects in October 2023. The State of New Jersey settled in May 2024 for a payment of $125 million to support investments in offshore wind and clean energy.

Turbines
Haliade-X 12 MW wind turbines produced by GE Wind Energy will be used. The structures are 853 ft tall with a rotor blade diameter of 722 ft. As many as 99 will be constructed. As of 2019, they had the highest capacity of turbines being produced.

On-shore staging center
Ørsted U.S. Offshore Wind is also partnering with Tradepoint Atlantic, based in Port of Baltimore, to create a 50-acre staging center for on-land assembly, storage and loading out into deep waters for projects along the East Coast.

The Port of Paulsboro could become the site for the production the monopile foundations for the turbines. Construction of the New Jersey Wind Port began in September 2021.

On-shore interconnection
In September 2019, Ocean Wind, with the approval of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, secured the capacity interconnection rights to bring the power generated by the wind farm on-shore at Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in Lacey Township, a 619-megawatt nuclear power plant which was shut down in September 2018. It can use the existing power infrastructure of the plant, after some upgrades, to connect to the regional transmission grid.

On February 2, 2022, Ørsted filed a petition to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to build a power cable connecting the offshore substations to the mainland through Ocean City. On September 28, the NJBPA approved the construction of the cable through the city's wetlands. The project received approval on February 23, 2023 for constructing the cable under local roads in Ocean City, stating that the project would not cause harm to the city. On July 5, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management provided the final step of approval for Ocean Wind 1, a project of 98 turbines and three electric substations, to produce 1,100 megawatts of electricity. The project was the third offshore wind project approved by the Joe Biden presidential administration.

In February 2023, Ocean Wind 1 received approval to connect the offshore wind farm to the site of the former B.L. England Generating Station in Upper Township, via an underground cable and an onshore connection in Ocean City.

Impact on marine life and fisheries
The wind farm would be built in prime fishing areas. Its impact on fisheries industry remains unclear, though there are some concerns and recommendations. Some have asked for a 5-year moratorium on construction until impact on fishing industry is further studied. New Jersey's Research and Monitoring Initiative provides $26 million, funded by the Ocean Wind and Atlantic Shores wind projects, to study the impacts of offshore wind on sea life and fisheries. In January 2023, the deputy chief for the National Marine Fisheries Service, Benjamin Laws, stated "I want to be unambiguous: There is no information supporting that any of the equipment used in support of offshore wind development could directly lead to the death of a whale... There are no known connections between any offshore wind activities and any whale strandings." Several of the whale deaths were attributed to boat strikes.

Opposition
On November 11, 2022, the government of Ocean City appealed to the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, against the NJBPA approval of the power cable's construction through the city. In February 2023, two Republican congressmen from New Jersey proposed legislation to halt all current and future offshore wind projects. In June 2023, Cape May County officials hired two law firms to oppose the project in court, which have connections to national groups opposing climate-related projects. Also in June 2023, Atlantic County officials passed a resolution seeking to delay the project.

Local residents several groups in opposition to the project, including Save Long Beach Island, Defend Brigantine Beach, and Protect Our Coast NJ, which opposed the project in state court.

The state has used legislation to bypass local resistance to granting permits.