The United States Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has completed the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for two wind projects by Shell PLC and EDF SA in New Jersey waters.
The projects under Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind LLC, the implementing joint venture of the British and French energy companies, could generate about 2,800 megawatts (MW) of electricity. Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind 1 and 2 could power nearly one million homes, according to the BOEM.
The combined proposal has 200 wind turbines and up to ten offshore substations. The proposal plans to have subsea transmission cables connected to Atlantic City and Sea Girt, the BOEM said in a statement.
Spanning about 102,124 acres, the lease area sits approximately 8.7 miles off the nearest coastal point.
“Public engagement and Tribal consultations were vital in informing BOEM's thorough environmental evaluation of the proposed Atlantic Shores South Wind Project”, BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein commented. The federal agency held four public meetings and a tribal consultation meeting on the draft EIS last June to gather feedback from ocean users who could be impacted, including fishers, according to the BOEM.
The statement said the final EIS will be published on the Federal Register website in the next few days.
"Completing this environmental analysis is a significant milestone in the administration's drive to realize clean energy ambitions that will enhance the lives of Americans now and for generations to come”, Klein added.
Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind chief executive Joris Veldhoven said in a separate statement, “We are encouraged to see forward progress and getting another step closer to delivering New Jersey’s first offshore wind projects”.
“We appreciate BOEM’s thorough environmental evaluation and recognize the significance of this milestone in reaching the Garden State’s goal of 100 percent clean energy by 2035”, Veldhoven added.
Eight commercial-scale offshore wind projects have been approved under the Biden administration. The approved projects have a total capacity of 10 gigawatts, enough to power almost four million homes according to the BOEM.
In New Jersey earlier this year the BOEM approved Equinor ASA’s development plan for Empire Wind 1 and 2 projects, which are also located in part in New York. “Together these projects would have a total capacity of 2,076 megawatts of clean, renewable energy that BOEM estimates could power more than 700,000 homes each year”, the BOEM said in a statement February 22.
Last January New Jersey’s utility regulator awarded a combined 3,742 MW of offshore wind capacity. The 2,400-MW Leading Light Wind Project is owned by energyRE LLC and Invenergy LLC. The 1,342-MW Attentive Energy Two Project is owned by Attentive Energy LLC and Corio Generation Ltd.
“Combined, the projects will bring $6.8 billion in economic benefits to New Jersey and provide enough domestically produced energy to power 1.8 million homes”, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities said in a statement January 24.
The BOEM has so far held four federal offshore wind lease auctions. The sales attracted nearly $5.5 billion in high bids, offering projects in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and Pacific waters, as well as New Jersey and New York, according to the BOEM.
The BOEM plans to hold 12 offshore wind lease sales in the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Pacific and waters offshore U.S. territories over the next five years, as announced by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland April 24.
The U.S. aims to deploy 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030 toward at least 110 GW by 2050, as announced by the Energy Department March 29, 2021. On September 22, 2022, the Biden administration announced a target of 15 GW for floating wind farms by 2035.
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