News Roundup
New Jersey Opens Auction for 4 Gigawatts of Offshore Wind
On 6 March 2023 the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) opened the application window for a third solicitation of offshore wind projects, seeking to award 1.2 – 4 gigawatts of new capacity. NJBPU will accept applications for this round through 23 June, 2023, and plans to select projects for awards by the end of the year.
New Jersey has a goal to deploy 11 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2040 and has already awarded three projects totaling 3.75 gigawatts in the previous two rounds of solicitations. All three projects are still in permitting, and Orsted plans to begin construction on the 1.1-gigawatt Ocean Winds I in 2024. New Jersey plans to award the remaining 7.25 gigawatts of its 11-gigawatt goal through a series of five solicitations to be held over the next six years.
Press release: New Jersey Board of Public Utilities Opens Third Offshore Wind Solicitation of Between 1.2 GW and 4 GW (NJBPU)
Work Begins at Thacker Pass Lithium Mine
Lithium Americas has begun site preparation, geotechnical drilling, water pipeline development and associated infrastructure work on a site in Northern Nevada poised to become the second lithium mine in the United States. Lithium Americas has also awarded contracts to companies including Bechtel Corporation to build the Thacker Pass Lithium Mine.
The mine will operate in two phases. Lithium Americas estimates that the first phase will have the capacity to produce 40,000 metric tons of battery-grade lithium carbonate per year, and the second phase will add another 40,000 metric tons. The site is the largest known lithium reserve in the United States and Lithium Americas overcame legal and permitting challenges as well as an allegation by Native Americans that the mine is the site of a massacre in the 19th century.
News analysis: ‘Silicon Valley of lithium’: Nevada mine breaks ground (E&E News)
