New Jersey Expands Offshore Wind Target to 11 Gigawatts

By Christian Roselund

On 21 September, 2022, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed an executive order to expand the state’s target for offshore wind deployment to 11 gigawatts by 2040, up from 7.5 gigawatts by 2035. Specifically, Executive Order #307 directs state agencies with responsibilities under the state’s Offshore Wind Economic Development Act to take all necessary actions to implement the act and achieve this target.

New Jersey has already awarded incentives to more than 3.7 gigawatts of offshore wind via multiple rounds of solicitations. This includes awards for EDF and Shell’s 1.51-gigawatt Atlantic Shores offshore wind project and Orsted’s 1.15-gigawatt Ocean Winds 2 projects in June 2021. New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities (BPU) is preparing for a third solicitation of 1.2 gigawatts in the first quarter of 2023.

The new target will support the state’s mandate for utilities to procure 50% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and 100% from zero-carbon sources by 2050. When passed in 2018 this was one of the most aggressive renewable energy mandates in the nation. It has since been surpassed by four other states and Washington D.C., which have mandated either more aggressive renewable energy standards, steeper carbon reductions in electricity supply, or carbon neutral
power supplies.

Source: Executive Order #307 (State of New Jersey)