Renewable Energy

New Jersey formally vacates Ocean Wind projects

Aug. 21, 2024

State’s Board of Public Utilities formally vacates orders that approved Ørsted’s proposed wind farms after a settlement.

Bruce Beaubouef

Related To: Ørsted

An illustration included in an analysis released by the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in June 2022 for its research into the planned Ocean Wind 1 wind farm off New Jersey. This illustration shows what 900-foot turbines miles off the Jersey Shore would have looked like from Stone Harbor, New Jersey.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) has formally vacated all orders approving the Ocean Wind One and Ocean Wind Two projects owned by Ørsted that were originally set to be constructed off the coast of Ocean City.

On Aug. 14, the BPU accepted Ørsted’s motions to vacate the BPU order approving Ocean Wind 1 as a Qualified Offshore Wind Project and four orders granting the Ocean Wind 1 project easements on property owned by the City of Ocean City and the County of Cape May.

The New Jersey BPU also granted the motion to vacate the order approving the Ocean Wind 2 project as a Qualified Offshore Wind Project.

Ørsted cancelled its Ocean Wind 1 and Ocean Wind 2 projects in October 2023, saying that additional supplier delays further impacted the project schedule and would lead to a significant project delay. The developer also said that increases in US interest rates further deteriorated the business case.

There had been considerable opposition to the projects from local fishing and tourism proponents. According to local reports, many Cape May County officials celebrated the decision as a victory, noting that it makes it more difficult for other offshore wind projects to utilize the same initial lease area.

Ørsted removed Ocean Wind 1, Ocean Wind 2, and Skipjack Wind projects in the US from its portfolio of awarded capacity in December 2023. In total, these three projects Ørsted had in the US would have amounted to a capacity of 3.2 GW.

About the Author

Bruce Beaubouef | Managing Editor

Bruce Beaubouef is Managing Editor for Offshore magazine. In that capacity, he plans and oversees content for the magazine; writes features on technologies and trends for the magazine; writes news updates for the website; creates and moderates topical webinars; and creates videos that focus on offshore oil and gas and renewable energies. Beaubouef has been in the oil and gas trade media for 25 years, starting out as Editor of Hart’s Pipeline Digest in 1998. From there, he went on to serve as Associate Editor for Pipe Line and Gas Industry for Gulf Publishing for four years before rejoining Hart Publications as Editor of PipeLine and Gas Technology in 2003. He joined Offshore magazine as Managing Editor in 2010, at that time owned by PennWell Corp. Beaubouef earned his Ph.D. at the University of Houston in 1997, and his dissertation was published in book form by Texas A&M University Press in September 2007 as The Strategic Petroleum Reserve: U.S. Energy Security and Oil Politics, 1975-2005.