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Published on 25 Sep 2024 • 2 minutes of reading
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TRENTON, NJ (AP) – New Jersey hit the pause button Friday on an offshore wind energy project that is struggling to find people to manufacture the blades for its turbines.
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities was granted a Light Wind Break on the project through December 20 while the builder sought sources for key components.
The project, from Chicago-based Invenergy and New York-based energyRE, will be built 40 miles (65 kilometers) from Long Beach Island and will include up to 100 turbines, enough to power 1 million homes.
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Leading Light was one of two projects selected by the state utility board in January. But just three weeks after the approval, one of the three main turbine manufacturers, GE Vernova, said it will not disclose the type of turbine Invenergy plans to use in the Leading Light Project, according to a filing with the Utilities Board.
The turbines made by manufacturer Vestas were deemed unsuitable for the project, and the remaining manufacturer, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, told Invenergy in June that it had increased the cost of the turbine bid, Invenergy said.
That leaves the project without a turbine supplier.
“The venue allows for continued discussions with BPU and supply chain partners about market changes across the industry,” Invenergy said in a statement. “We will continue to expand our project development activities during this period.”
Christine Guhl-Sadovy, president of the utility’s board, said the delay will help the project move forward.
“We are committed to New Jersey for our offshore wind,” she said. “This move will allow Invenergy to find suitable wind turbine suppliers. We look forward to projects that will help grow the clean energy workforce and contribute to producing clean energy for the country.
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The delay is the latest setback for offshore wind in New Jersey. The industry grew in fits and starts on the East coast of the US.
Nearly a year ago, Danish wind energy giant Orsted scrapped two planned offshore wind farms off the coast of New Jersey, saying they were financially unviable.
Atlantic Shores, another project with preliminary approval in New Jersey, is seeking to waive the project’s financial requirements.
Opponents of offshore wind have been caught in the disintegration of a turbine blade off Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts in July that sent crumbled pieces washing ashore in the popular island vacation spot.
But wind projects in other states, including Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Virginia, are either operational or approaching that status.
New Jersey has been at the center of resident and political opposition to offshore wind, with many community groups and elected officials — most of them Republicans — saying the industry is harmful to the environment and unprofitable.
Supporters, many of them Democrats, say offshore wind is essential to moving the planet away from the burning of fossil fuels and the resulting climate change.
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