Offshore wind developer seeks to cancel NJ project
By: Amanda Oglesby
Asbury Park Press
USA today Network - New Jersey
TRENTON - A company developing an offshore wind power project for New Jersey has field a request to cancel its plans, citing economic and political headwinds.
.....
Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, based in Brooklyn, petitioned the New Jersey board of Public Utilities on June 4 [2025] to terminate its offshore renewable energy certificates order, or OREC.
..... The company, which is a partnership and EDF Renewable North America, was in the process of developing a 1.5-gigewatte wind turbine power project east of Atlantic City.
..... Had it been constructed, the project would have powered about 70,000 homes across the state. In 2021, the Board of Public Utilities awarded Atlantic Shores offshore renewable energy certificates for its proposed project.
..... ORECs are a funding mechanism that helps incentive the production of renewable energy for New Jersey's electrical grid.
..... In 2018, Governor Phil Murphy issued an executive order that set a goal of offshore wind generating 3.5 gigawatts of electricity in New Jersey by the year 2030, about enough energy to power 1.5million homes, the company said. The following year, Murphy amended that goal to 7.5 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2035.
..... Economic turmoil has battered the burgeoning industry. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic spiked inflation, ballooned interest rates and sent costs for steel and manufacturing supplies soaring.
..... The war between Ukraine and Russia, which affected key trade routes, also disrupted the supply chain for essential components, said the company's filing before the utilities board.
..... In January, [2025] the company hit another obstacle. President Donald trump issued a memorandum that froze all federal permitting and approval work for wind power projects, citing a need to reevaluate the projects and their impacts.
..... Shortly afterward, the U.S. environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Appeal Board pulled an air permit granted to the company in 2024. without the permit, Atlantic Shores could not move forward with construction, the company's filing said.
......
"Due to the uncertainty caused by the Presidential Wind Memorandum, the subsequent loss of the Air Permit, and other actions taken by the current administration more generally, Petitioner;s (Atlantic Shore's) parent company has been forced to materially educe its personnel, terminate contracts, and cancel planed project investments," Adam L. Peterson, an attorney for Atlantic Shore, wrote in the OREC cancellation filing to the utilities board.
.....
As part of the company's initial agreement with the Board of Public Utilities, Atlantic Shores had premised to invest in manufacturing at the state's wind Port and planned to lease space there at a cost of about $35.6 million over two years. The company also planned to build an operations facility in Atlantic City that would have employed about 88 people, had committed to investing $16 million toward a pilot project for a hydrogen power plant, and planned to spend another $4 million on workforce development programs.
..... Atlantic Shores CEO Joris Veldhoven said the filing with the Board of Public Utilities marks the close "of a cheaper, but not the end for Atlantic Shores."
..... "Offshore wind continues to offer New Jersey a strong value proposition that includes thousands of good-paying jobs, stable power prices and real economic benefit," he said. "while no ratepayer money or subsidy was spent on Atlantic Shore Project 1, this reset period presents us an opportunity to ensure utility customers continue to get a fair deal for critical infrastructure delivery. and with record demand for electricity, out pacing supply, one thing's for sure: New Jersey needs more power generation."
..... The company remains "ready to deliver" projects that will benefit millions of New Jersey residents, he said.
..... Ed Potosnak, executive director of the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters, an environmental advocacy organization, said offshore wind energy is important for improving air quality and generating new jobs.
..... "At a time when New Jersey families are concerned about energy affordability and rising utility prices, we need to be building clean energy to lower costs, create good jobs in the state, lessen our dependence on dirty and expensive oil and gas, and protect our communities from the dangers of climate change," Potosnak said in a statement.
..... "In New Jersey we lead, and we're not giving up on offshore wind due to a temporary fight to save lives."