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Still unable to find equipment makers, New Jersey offshore wind project seeks 2nd delay

[January 02, 2025] By WAYNE PARRY

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey offshore wind project is seeking a second delay, saying it still can't find someone to build crucial equipment for the turbines in the latest patch of turbulence striking the industry.

Leading Light Wind had already received one pause on its project from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, which acknowledged the difficulty the project has had in finding a manufacturer for the blades that would spin to generate electricity.

But that pause ended on Dec. 20. The day before, Leading Light asked the board for an additional stay, this time through May 20.

It did not specify an inability to find a blade manufacturer as the reason for needing a second delay, but its most recent request said, “The offshore wind equipment market continues to experience significant price volatility and the company has not yet identified a solution to that volatility.”

The company did not respond to inquiries on Monday and Tuesday about whether a blade manufacturer is at the heart of the second request.

"This additional time will allow us to continue to navigate ongoing market shifts and supply chain challenges, as we work to advance development of this important project for New Jersey,” Wes Jacobs, the project director, said in a statement.

The board could not estimate when it might consider the request.

The project, from Chicago-based Invenergy and New York-based energyRE, would be built 40 miles (65 kilometers) off Long Beach Island and would consist of up to 100 turbines, enough to power 1 million homes.

Leading Light was one of two projects the state utilities board chose in January 2024. But just three weeks after that approval, one of three major turbine manufacturers, GE Vernova, said it would not build the kind of turbine Invenergy planned to use in the project, according to a public filing.

A turbine made by manufacturer Vestas was deemed unsuitable for the project, and the remaining manufacturer, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, told Invenergy in June that it was increasing the cost of its turbine, Invenergy said.

Invenergy said it has invested millions of dollars into the project and remains committed to it. The project must pay $105 million toward the cost of a facility to build monopiles, the tower-like foundations of wind turbines, in Paulsboro.

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Land-based wind turbines spin in Atlantic City, N.J. on Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

Opponents of offshore wind seized on the new request as more proof the industry is not economically feasible, particularly with Donald Trump, an offshore wind foe, soon to return to the White House.

“We can only draw one logical conclusion: the Trump administration threatens the lifeblood of the offshore wind industry, namely, large government subsidies and less regulation,” the group Protect Our Coast NJ said in a statement.

There are currently two other preliminarily approved offshore wind projects in New Jersey.

Attentive Energy Two would be built 42 miles (67 kilometers) off Seaside Heights and would not be visible from the shoreline. It is a joint venture between Paris-based TotalEnergies and London-based Corio Generation and would power over 650,000 homes.

Atlantic Shores, a joint partnership between Shell New Energies US LLC and EDF-RE Offshore Development LLC, would generate enough energy to power 700,000 homes. The federal government says the project would be about 8.7 miles (14 kilometers) from the shore at its closest point. The company has previously said the closest turbines will be at least 12.8 miles (20 kilometers) from shore.

Some observers say it might not be easy to completely thwart the industry, particularly projects that are already operating or that have received the required government approvals.

Paulina O'Connor, executive director of the New Jersey Offshore Wind Alliance, said the industry's future is promising.

“There is no shortage of challenges to advancing a new industry through market-wide shifts, but the fundamentals of offshore wind in New Jersey remain strong," she said.

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