Inauguration of a massive wind port in NJ

Credit: (Jon Hurdle)

New Jersey’s nascent offshore wind industry received formal approval on Thursday with a groundbreaking ceremony for a new state-funded port that will serve the multitude of wind turbines slated for construction in the coming years.

Governor Phil Murphy joined US Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, senior state officials, federal and state lawmakers, labor and environmental activists to launch the New Jersey Wind Port where operators will assemble and assemble the components that make up the giant turbines.

The facility, on 200 acres adjacent to the Salem County nuclear complex, will be the country’s first purpose-built onshore site to service an industry essential to meeting the Murphy’s administration clean energy goals and contributing to a global goal reduction in carbon emissions.

Just a week after the remnants of Hurricane Ida ravaged New Jersey with tornadoes and record-breaking precipitation, killing more than two dozen people, Murphy said the wind port showed the state was determined to fight. climate change.

Recalling his visit last week to tornado-crushed South Jersey homes, Murphy said there may not be much that New Jersey could do to reverse climate change, but that shouldn’t stop it from d ‘to try.

“This kind of reality may be a part of our lives today, but we have to do everything we can to prove our reluctance to deny climate change,” Murphy said. He said the state should tackle climate change head-on so that future generations can enjoy a habitable world.

The “epicenter” of the offshore wind industry?

Murphy, a first-term Democrat running for reelection, said the port would establish New Jersey as the “epicenter” of America’s offshore wind industry and the center of its supply chain.

“This location will provide essential staging, assembly and manufacturing for the offshore wind industry, not just in Jersey, but along the east coast,” Murphy said, alongside a ceremonial sand-rimmed pile. shovels and helmets.

Finally, the project refutes a long-standing argument that there is a trade-off between job creation and environmental protection, given projections that the port will create 1,500 permanent jobs, and hundreds more over the course of time. the construction phase, Murphy said.

“What we are doing here today is not just creating jobs – extremely good union jobs – this will perhaps be our biggest stand against climate change,” Murphy said. “New Jersey is going to change the rhetoric: Tackling climate change and creating good jobs go hand in hand. “

The state’s first commercial-scale wind farm, named Ocean Wind, is located approximately 15 miles offshore from Atlantic City and is expected to begin providing electricity by the end of 2024. The project will be managed by the Danish Ørsted, one of the largest offshore wind developers in the world. , and is 25% owned by the energy company PSEG. It will generate 1,100 megawatts, enough to power around 500,000 homes.

Then another wind farm

It should be followed by Atlantic Shores, from 2024, a wind farm between Atlantic City and Barnegat Light. The project would generate 1,510 MW, enough to power some 700,000 homes.

Both projects will help Murphy meet its goal of generating 7,500 MW of offshore wind power by 2035. Offshore wind is a key part of the Murphy’s administration’s clean energy policy, which aims to keep it running. the state to 100% clean energy by 2050.

Donors to the port hope it will become a link to serve the nascent wind industry across the east coast, where states have pledged to purchase some 25,000 MW of offshore wind power by 2035, enough to power around 17 million homes.

The port site was chosen in part because it has direct access to the ocean, with no bridges that would block the giant turbine towers that are shipped vertically from their assembly points to their offshore locations.

The site also has enough space for the assembly of the turbines, some of which will rise more than 800 feet above the ocean’s surface when completed. The components will include foundations for wind turbines, or monopiles, which are to be built at a new plant near Paulsboro.

Construction begins later this year

The Lower Alloways Creek site is one of the few on the east coast to meet all the requirements of a wind port, officials say.

Construction, led by AECOM Tishman, is expected to begin at the end of this year and will require workers with skills in manufacturing, assembly and operations; most jobs at the port do not require a college degree.

The project, which is expected to cost between $ 300 million and $ 400 million, will be managed by the New Jersey Economic Development Agency.

At the inauguration, Walsh called the wind port a “transformational project” that will help President Biden meet his goal of 30,000 MW of offshore wind power by 2030. Walsh told the audience, who included representatives of unions, that the fight against climate change also creates work. “This installation will help us boldly move forward towards these two goals,” he said.

Bill Mullen, president of the New Jersey Building Trades Council, said there is no doubt the climate is changing and offshore wind is a viable alternative to climate-modifying greenhouse gases. “We all know the future is here in wind power,” he said.