Interest in U.S. offshore wind has surged since 2016, when the nation’s first, and thus far only, project was completed off Rhode Island. The developer, Deepwater Wind, agreed to be bought in October for $510 million by Denmark’s Orsted, the world’s largest builder of offshore wind farms.
While offshore wind costs have fallen dramatically, it remains one of the most expensive ways to generate electricity. The 600-foot-tall (183 meter) windmills also draw opposition from commercial fisherman and coastal property owners, as evidenced by the failed Cape Wind project off Cape Cod that was scrapped after more than a decade of litigation.
Efforts to build wind farms in waters off New Jersey stalled under Republican Governor Chris Christie, who effectively blocked projects by never fully implementing a program to subsidize them. His Democratic succession, Phil Murphy, ordered regulators to make plans to resume development when he took office in January.
When U.S. Wind bought the lease in 2015, developers still viewed the American market as risky and, hence, there were fewer bidders than today, Vitale said. The company plans to use profits from the sale for projects it’s planning off Maryland and South Carolina, he said.
“In 2015, the market was empty,” Vitale said. “We were able to secure the New Jersey lease at a very competitive price.”
— With assistance by Jim Efstathiou Jr