A new proposal to build a 350 megawatt (MW) wind farm about 16 miles off the shore of South Jersey has been submitted to the New Jersey Office of Clean Energy (OCE)
PSEG Renewable Generation and Winergy Power Holdings announced the submission of the joint proposal to be called Garden State Offshore Energy. Subject to receipt of all required permits, financing and other conditions, the companies say it could be fully operational in 2013.
The project is expected to consist of 96 turbines arranged in a rectangular grid off the coast of Cape May and Atlantic counties. The companies said the turbines will be located as far offshore as commercially feasible to make it virtually invisible from land.
This proposal was submitted in response to a solicitation by the OCE, which was established by the NJ Board of Public Utilities. If chosen by the OCE, the project is expected to apply for permits and conduct additional feasibility and environmental studies.
"We are committed to maximizing the positive benefits of this clean energy project while limiting any negative impact that this might have on the Jersey shore communities or on the environment," remarked Nelson Garcez, vice president, PSEG Renewable Generation. "We believe that to see the wind turbines from land, you would need to use potent binoculars," added Garcez.
The companies announced that they will be forming a community advisory committee made up of local residents, elected and tourism officials as well as community, environmental and local business leaders.
"We’ve located the project as far offshore as possible in order to make offshore wind a positive resource for everyone," said Chris Wissemann, chief operating officer of Winergy. "New Jersey has been at the forefront on promoting solar energy and, with this project, it will move to the cutting edge of offshore wind power as well."
PSEG Renewable Generation is a subsidiary of PSEG Global (NYSE: PEG) headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. This is PSEG Renewable Generation’s first project, though PSEG Global has experience with wind generation in Latin America and biomass generation in the U.S. and Europe.
Winergy Power Holdings based in New York was formed to explore opportunities for offshore wind development on the eastern coast of the U.S.
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