Projects
- Permitted: Fishermen's Energy secured all of its federal and state permits for its 25 MW demonstration scale, Atlantic City Wind Farm project. The six-turbine project, to be located three miles from the Atlantic City shore, received two DOE Advanced Demonstration Project awards to demonstrate the use of an innovative foundation design—the twisted jacket foundation. The project’s application was rejected by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities earlier this year. In light of an Advanced Technology Demonstration award of nearly $48 million, the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, is requiring the BPU to reconsider the project’s application for an award of offshore wind renewable energy certificates. A bill allowing the wind farm failed to be approved by Governor Chris Christie. In November 2015, BOEM awarded lease rights to US Wind Inc. and RES Americas for 344,000 acres off Atlantic City.
Policy, Planning, & Regulations
- Energy & Climate Change Planning: The Global Warming Response Act of 2007 mandated a 20% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2020, and a further 80% decrease below 2006 levels by 2050.
- Energy Demand/Incentives: New Jersey's renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS)(link is external)calls for 22.5% of energy from renewable sources by 2020 (20% from Class I sources). An offshore wind provision requires a percentage of electricity sold in New Jersey to come from offshore wind energy facilities.
- Production Goal: The 2011 New Jersey Energy Master Plan aims for development of at least 1,000 MW of offshore wind by 2012, and at least 3,000 MW of offshore wind by 2020.
- Energy Demand/Incentives: The Offshore Wind Development Act of 2010, signed by Governor Chris Christie, requires that each electric power supplier and each basic generation service provider acquire a percentage of the kilowatt hours sold in New Jersey from offshore wind energy, such that at least 1,100 megawatts of generation from offshore wind projects will be supplied to state consumers. The Board of Public Utilities (BPU) has sole jurisdiction to approve an offshore wind renewable energy certificate (OREC) price that will allow an applicant to satisfy the cost-benefit standard set forth in the statute. The Act provides for tax credits and financial incentives for offshore wind turbine manufacturers, and calls for the construction of a transmission system to deliver the wind-generated energy to New Jersey’s grid.
- Regional Ocean Management Planning: New Jersey is a member of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (MARCO).
- Regional Electricity Transmission Planning: New Jersey's electricity transmission is coordinated by the PJM Interconnection regional power grid, which is a member of the Reliability First Corporation (RFC).
Existing Assets, Related & Supporting Industries
- Supply Chain: The 2004 New Jersey Offshore Wind Energy: Feasibility Study indicated that several major ports exist that are suitable to support the shipping, staging and assembly, installation or operations & maintenance requirements of an offshore wind project, including the Port of New York and New Jersey, Atlantic City, and industrial ports accessible via the Delaware Bay and Delaware River in New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania.
- Supply Chain: The Port of Paulsboro, which is located in the South Jersey Port District, is undergoing dredging and other infrastructure renovations suited for the offshore wind supply chain development. Up to $100 million in financial assistance and tax credits were made available through the Offshore Wind Development Act of 2010 for businesses that construct offshore wind energy manufacturing, assembly, and water access facilities in the South Jersey Port District.
Economic Fundamentals
- Population: 8.9 million (2.8% of US, 2016)¹
- Population change (2010-2016): 1.7%²
- Civilian labor force: 4.5 million (2.8% of US, 2017)¹
- Median hourly wage (all occupations): $20.17 (2016)³
- State corporate income tax rate: 6.5% (for income up to $50,000), 7.5% (for income up to $100,000), and 9% (for income in excess of $100,000) (2017)⁴
- Per capita personal income: $61,968 (4th in US, 2016)¹
- Residential electricity prices: 16.22 cents/kWh (2017)¹
- Commercial electricity prices: 12.97 cents/kWh (2017)¹
- Industrial electricity prices: 10.19 cents/kWh (2017)¹
- Total energy production: 398 trillion Btu (0.5% of US, 2015)¹
- Net electricity generation: 4,924 thousand MWh (1.7% of US, 2017)¹
- Total energy consumption per capita: 256 million Btu (37th in US, 2015)¹
- Carbon dioxide emissions: 19,427 thousand metric tons (0.7% of US, 2015)¹
- Sulfur dioxide emissions: 3 thousand metric tons (0.1% of US, 2015)¹
- Nitrogen dioxide emissions: 12 thousand metric tons (0.6% of US, 2015)¹
- Total estimated technical offshore wind potential generation: 280,193 GWh/yr (3.9% of US, 2016)⁵
References: U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA)¹; U.S. Census Bureau²; U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)³; Tax Foundation⁴; and, U.S. Department of Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)⁵