New Jersey's other wind farm developer wants government breaks, too; says project 'at risk' - The Associated Press
New Jersey's other wind farm developer wants government breaks, too; says project 'at risk' | AP News
New Jersey’s other wind farm developer wants government breaks, too; says project ‘at risk’
Land-based windmills turn in the wind in Atlantic City, N.J., on April 28, 2022. On July 3, 2023, Atlantic Shores, the approved developer of New Jersey’s third offshore wind farm, said it, too, wants a tax break or other financial assistance, hinting that its project might not be able to be done without the kind of assistance New Jersey lawmakers granted the week before to a competitor, Orsted, which has approval to build two of the state’s three approved offshore wind farms. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Land-based windmills turn in the wind in Atlantic City, N.J., on April 28, 2022. On July 3, 2023, Atlantic Shores, the approved developer of New Jersey’s third offshore wind farm, said it, too, wants a tax break or other financial assistance, hinting that its project might not be able to be done without the kind of assistance New Jersey lawmakers granted the week before to a competitor, Orsted, which has approval to build two of the state’s three approved offshore wind farms. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Land-based windmills turn in the wind in Atlantic City, N.J., on April 28, 2022. On July 3, 2023, Atlantic Shores, the approved developer of New Jersey’s third offshore wind farm, said it, too, wants a tax break or other financial assistance, hinting that its project might not be able to be done without the kind of assistance New Jersey lawmakers granted the week before to a competitor, Orsted, which has approval to build two of the state’s three approved offshore wind farms. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — A company approved to build New Jersey’s third offshore wind farm says it, too, wants government financial incentives, saying its project and the jobs it would create are “at risk” without the additional help.
Atlantic Shores issued a statement Friday, shortly after New Jersey lawmakers approved a tax break for Danish wind developer Orsted, which has approval to build two wind farms off the state’s coast.
Elaborating on Monday, the Atlantic City-based Atlantic Shores said it has contacted the offices of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, and leaders of the state Senate and Assembly, saying it seeks a “solution that stabilizes all awarded projects.”
It remains to be seen how the request will be received by lawmakers. The tax bill passed by a single vote Friday.
Atlantic Shores did not say precisely what sort of assistance it wants, and refused to publicly clarify its request, or discuss the likelihood of being able to complete the project with its current financing.
The tax break approved by lawmakers on Friday only applies to Ocean Wind I, the first of Orsted’s two New Jersey projects. It also does not apply to Atlantic Shores.
“To establish a durable, thriving, full-scale offshore wind industry in New Jersey, we need an industry-wide solution, one that stabilizes all current projects including Atlantic Shores Project 1, the largest offshore wind project in the state of New Jersey and third largest project awarded in the United States,” the company said in its Friday statement.
The company did not explicitly say it cannot build and operate its project without further financial aid. But it did hint that outcome is possible without “immediate action.”
“Tens of thousands of real, well-paid and unionized jobs are at risk,” it said. “Hundreds of millions in infrastructure investments will be forgone without a path forward.”
Atlantic Shores is a joint partnership between Shell New Energies US LLC and EDF-RE Offshore Development, LLC.
The company said that while the bill approved Friday — which awaits action by the governor — will help its manufacturing partner EEW American Offshore Structures build the large monopiles that will support Atlantic Shores’ wind turbines, “we need immediate action that also supports the Atlantic Shores Project 1 to keep these commitments within reach.”
The governor’s office declined to comment, and state Senate and Assembly political leadership did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.
Lawmakers said the Orsted bill was necessary to help offshore wind projects deal with what they called lingering effects of inflation and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The vote went largely along party lines, with Democrats, who hold the governorship and control both houses of the Legislature, supporting it as necessary to ensure that a source of green energy gets built. Republicans panned it as a wasteful gift to companies whose projects are not economically viable without further costs to ratepayers.
Atlantic Shores said it is competing against “other states and major economies” all vying to build offshore wind projects.
New Jersey energy regulators approved Atlantic Shores’ 1,510 megawatt project in 2021. It would generate enough electricity to power 637,000 homes.
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Related Knowledge Center: Offshore wind energy
Over the next decade, U.S. offshore wind power is expected to grow from a single 30-megawatt wind farm off Rhode Island to more than 2,000 MW of capacity along the Atlantic Seaboard. There are contracts for wind power off the coasts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated the United States has over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential, enough to power the country four times over.
The growth in part being spurred by state solicitations, including in New York, where then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) set a commitment of 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, and in Connecticut, where in June 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed legislation authorizing the construction of 2,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030.
The offshore development is also being driven by an investment tax credit set to end in December 2019 and is equal to 12 percent of expenditures. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) have introduced a bill to extend the tax credit for up to eight years.
The Interior Department has held eight competitive lease sales that resulted in 15 offshore wind leases over 1.7 million acres that has the potential for 21 GW of capacity. In February 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a bidding process that realized $4.37 billion for 488,000 acres across six lease areas in federal waters off New York and New Jersey.
Projects have also been proposed off the Southeast coast, off California and Hawaii, and for the Great Lakes.