A new hub for New Jersey’s budding offshore wind power industry is coming to South Jersey, what officials tout as the first port built specifically for the purpose of offshore wind in North America.
Gov. Phil Murphy on Tuesday announced plans to build a new port in Salem County to support the development of offshore wind farms off the Jersey Shore.
Officials say the New Jersey Wind Port will create 1,500 permanent jobs, generate $500 million in annual economic activity, and help the state reach its goal of gradually relying more on so-called clean energy.
The facility is set to be built on the same artificial island that is home to the Hope Creek Nuclear Power Plant and Salem Nuclear Power Plant in Lower Alloways Creek.
Officials say the New Jersey Wind Port will create 1,500 permanent jobs, generate $500 million in annual economic activity, and help the state reach its goal of gradually relying more on so-called clean energy.
“This is a big deal,” said Tim Sullivan, chief executive of the state’s Economic Development Authority. “We think this is the best situated site in the Northeast and in North America to support the offshore wind industry.”
Sullivan spoke of an opportunity to “make New Jersey and South Jersey the capital of American off-shore wind.”
Murphy said the move is part of New Jersey’s longterm economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” the Democratic governor said during his daily coronavirus briefing in Trenton. “The emerging offshore-wind industry is one that gives us this tremendous growth potential, and offers this opportunity to position ourselves as a leader in an emerging global industry that will create jobs for the years to come.”
A rendering provided by the governor's office shows the New Jersey Wind Port in Salem County.
Murphy said this is especially crucial for South Jersey, which he said is "a part of the state that needs economic development.”
“We desperately need jobs, good-paying union jobs, in places like Salem County," he said.
The project will be a partnership between the EDA and private-sector companies, such as PSEG.
Construction will begin in 2021, with a 25-acre manufacturing site and a 30-acre marshaling and staging site coming first. It will create hundreds of manufacturing jobs, officials said.
Murphy also said this is a “critical” part to reaching his goal of generating 7,500 megawatts by 2035 and having a 100% “clean-energy economy” by 2050.
“This is a big deal,” said Tim Sullivan, chief executive of the EDA. “We think this is the best situated site in the Northeast and in North America to support the offshore wind industry."
The port will serve as the point where wind turbines are constructed and then loaded onto ships. The ships will then take the turbines out to sea, and install them at their final location. Standing more than 800 feet tall, the turbines will tower higher than the Washington Monument.
Murphy said the move is part of New Jersey’s long-term economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” the Democratic governor said during his daily coronavirus briefing in Trenton. “The emerging offshore-wind industry is one that gives us this tremendous growth potential, and offers this opportunity to position ourselves as a leader in an emerging global industry that will create jobs for the years to come.”
“We desperately need jobs, good-paying union jobs, in places like Salem County,” he said.
Murphy also has his sights on supplying Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island and Virginia, all of which have plans to build offshore wind generation along the Eastern Seaboard’s shallow waters.
“We want a significant piece of the supply chain in New Jersey,” Murphy told the Washington Post. “So we’re literally creating this industry from whole cloth.”
The project will be a partnership between the state EDA and private-sector companies, such as PSEG.
Construction will begin next year, with a 25-acre manufacturing site and a 30-acre marshaling and staging site coming first. It will create hundreds of manufacturing jobs, officials said.
Murphy also said this is a key part to reaching his aggressive goal of generating 7,500 megawatts by 2035 —enough energy to power 3.2 million homes — and having a 100% “clean-energy economy” by 2050. The state released a new energy master plan in January that serves as a road map for reaching those targets.
Jeff Tittel, the director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, hailed the announcement as a critical step forward for offshore wind in the Garden State.
“We need to have the port facility assemblage places if we want to have wind,” Tittel said.
Tittel added that the environmental impact of the new port is expected to be limited, because it’s going on already disturbed land and will not require a new pier to be built.
State Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli stressed that the project will help bring clean air, which is especially needed in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. She noted that 16.8% of coronavirus deaths in the state have been in people with underlying chronic lung conditions.
“We know clearer air has better health,” Persichilli said. Air pollution is associated with many health problems.”
Elsewhere in South Jersey, the Port of Paulsboro in Gloucester County could also serve the offshore wind industry. That $225 million, state-funded port opened three years ago, and local officials have said that it still hasn’t created the promised jobs.
In November, Murphy signed an executive order that sets a goal for New Jersey to produce 7,500 megawatts of electricity from offshore wind by 2035 — enough energy to power 3.2 million homes.
Last year, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities granted the state’s first award for offshore wind to the Danish energy company Ørsted and Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) for the proposed 1,100-megawatt Ocean Wind project.
Ocean Wind will be built in federal waters 15 miles offshore of Atlantic City, and is expected to produce enough energy to power 500,000 homes once fully complete. Ocean Wind is expected to be operational in 2024.
In September, Ørsted was approved to use the former Oyster Creek nuclear plant in Lacey Township as a landing point for bringing Ocean Wind’s electricity onshore. The shuttered B.L. England coal power plant in Upper Township could also serve as a landing point for future offshore wind projects.
The state is scheduled to make a solicitation for a second 1,100-megawatt offshore wind facility this year. A third solicitation, for a 1,200-megawatt wind farm, is expected in 2022.
Read more of NJ.com’s coverage of New Jersey water issues here.
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Michael Sol Warren may be reached at mwarren@njadvancemedia.com.
Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com.
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