New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has signed an executive order which increases the state’s offshore wind target from 3.5GW by 2030 to 7.5GW by 2035.
Executive Order No. 92, which more than doubles New Jersey’s offshore wind goal, will help deliver the goals of having 50% of renewable energy by 2030 and a 100% clean energy economy by 2050.
“There is no other renewable energy resource that provides us with either the electric-generation or economic-growth potential of offshore wind,” said Governor Murphy .
“When we reach our goal of 7,500 megawatts, New Jersey’s offshore wind infrastructure will generate electricity to power more than 3.2 million homes and meet fifty percent of our state’s electric power need.”
According to Murphy, New Jersey’s offshore wind industry will generate billions of dollars in investments, that will, in turn, create thousands of jobs.
At the beginning of 2018, Murphy signed Executive Order No. 8, which directed the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) to implement the Offshore Wind Economic Development Act (OWEDA) and begin the process of moving the state toward a goal of 3.5GW of offshore wind by 2030.
NJBPU issued a solicitation for 1,100MW of offshore wind and awarded Ørsted with the contract for its Ocean Wind project earlier this year.
Located off the coast of Atlantic City, Ocean Wind will be New Jersey’s first large-scale offshore wind farm. Subject to Ørsted’s final investment decision, the wind farm is expected to be completed by 2024.