The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has approved the plan for construction and operations of Ørsted's Ocean Wind 1 project offshore New Jersey. The project will include the construction of up to 98 wind turbines and up to three offshore substations within its lease area. While the subsea cable tends to be purchased directly from wire and cable manufacturers and European offshore wind farm specialists will handle much of the offshore installation of the turbines, local electric utilities, contractors, distributors and reps may get a shot at the onshore connections to the electrical grid and the construction of staging areas at ports.
Located about 13 nautical miles southeast of Atlantic City, the project will have an estimated capacity of 1,100 megawatts– capable of powering over 380,000 homes – and is expected to create more than 3,000 jobs through development and a three-year construction cycle.
According to the press release from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the announcement marks the Biden-Harris administration’s third approval of a commercial-scale, offshore wind energy project in the United States, joining the Vineyard Wind project offshore Massachusetts and the South Fork Wind project offshore Rhode Island and New York, both now under construction and being built by union labor. These projects represent significant progress toward the Administration’s goals of developing 30 gigawatts of clean, renewable offshore wind energy by the year 2030, while protecting biodiversity and multiple uses of the ocean.
Ørsted quoted New Jersey's Governor Phil Murphy: "The announcement of Ocean Wind 1’s Record of Decision represents a pivotal inflection point not just for Ørsted, but for New Jersey’s nation-leading offshore wind industry as a whole. By preparing to begin onshore construction this fall, Ocean Wind 1 will help bring New Jersey one crucial step closer to achieving a 100% clean energy economy by 2035 and 11,000 MW of offshore wind power by 2040."