Ørsted and a joint venture of Shell and EDF Renewables are due to develop more than 2.6GW of offshore wind capacity off the coast of New Jersey.
New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities (BPU) selected their projects in its second solicitation, awarding them Offshore Renewable Energy Certificates (ORECs) for 20 years.
The two development groups were the only bidders in New Jersey’s offshore wind round.
Shell and EDF Renewables’ 1510MW Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind 1 project is expected to use 13.6MW Vestas turbines and be located 16.8km from the shore.
It is due to be built in two phases that are expected to become operational in 2027 and 2028 respectively.
The Atlantic Shores project will also power a green hydrogen pilot facility.
Meanwhile, Ørsted’s 1148MW Ocean Wind 2 project is due to be built adjacent to the developers’ Ocean Wind 1 site, and be located 22.2km from the shore.
It is expected to use 14MW GE turbines, and be built in three phases coming online in 2028 and 2029.
The Ocean Wind 2 project is due to include a truck electrification pilot scheme. Ørsted and GE are also due to build a nacelle assembly facility as part of the project.
Shell and EDF Renewables’ wind farm is in line to receive ORECs worth $86.62/MWh in the first year of operation, and generate electricity at a levelised net OREC cost after project revenues are returned to ratepayers of $58.81/MWh.
Ørsted’s project, meanwhile, is due to receive a first-year OREC price of $84.03/MWh and generate electricity at a levelised net OREC cost after project revenues are returned to ratepayers of $42.30/MWh.
The developers’ projects were unanimously approved by New Jersey’s BPU, which selected them based on their OREC purchase price and ratepayer impact (50%), environmental and fisheries impact (20%), economic impact and strength of guarantees for economic impact (20%) and likelihood of successful commercial impact (10%).
Together, the projects are expected to power 1.15 million homes, offset more than 500 million tonnes of CO2 annually, create economic benefits of $3.5 billion over their operational life, and create 7,000 full- or part-time jobs in their development, construction and operational phases.
Both projects will use the same foundation manufacturing facility in the port of Paulsboro and establish manufacturing facilities at the purpose-built New Jersey wind port in Lower Alloways Creek.
New Jersey aims to source power from 7.5GW of offshore wind capacity by 2035.
