Feds Step In, Say They’ll Fund NJ Offshore Wind Plot Up to $47 Million
Fishermen’s Energy yesterday received a $47 million federal grant to move forward with its pilot project to build a small offshore wind farm about three miles from Atlantic City — even though the project already has been rejected by regulators in New Jersey.
The grant from the U.S. Department of Energy is a key element in making the project financially viable. Proponents say the pilot could demonstrate offshore wind as a cleaner way of generating electricity in the future — one that also could create new jobs — and pave the way for more such projects in New Jersey.
The view was not shared by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, which has repeatedly refused to back the $188 million project, saying it would be too costly to utility customers who would foot much of the bill. They also questioned if the developer would ever receive the grant from the federal government it was seeking.
The failure of BPU to approve the project, which sought to build a 25-megawatt offshore wind farm, has been harshly criticized by clean-energy advocates who say the denial reflects a retreat from the Christie administration’s own Energy Master Plan and its recommendation that the state develop 1,100 megawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2020.
That goal is nowhere close to happening, given that Fishermen’s Energy’s Atlantic City Wind Farm is the first project to come before the BPU. While the regulatory agency called the project too costly, the New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel, which represents the interests of ratepayers, signed off on the project, largely because of grants from the federal government that would reduce costs to utility customers. (Johnson/NJSpotlight)
