On Friday, October 3rd, the State came took a first, small step closer to its goal of having an offshore wind farm. BPU announced that it has awarded a $4 million dollar grant to Garden State Offshore Energy for its proposal. Garden State Offshore Energy proposed to build a 345.6 megawatt farm about 16 miles off the coast of Atlantic City. This grant is the result of the State’s blue ribbon panel on offshore wind. The panel recommended back in April 2006 that the State should seek a pilot program of up to 350 megawatts. The panel’s recommendation was the result of a December 23, 2004 executive order setting up the panel and placing a moratorium on off-shore wind until the panel made its recommendations. ( I am going to have to do a longer more comprehensive entry on the panel’s recommendations at a later time.)
Then on Monday October 6th, the Governor came out with an amazing announcement. The State has announced that it is going to be the leader in offshore wind within the United States. According to the Governor:
“Today, I am announcing that we’re not just doubling our commitment, we’re tripling it. New Jersey will support and encourage the development of 3,000 MW of wind power off its coast by 2020, which will be 13 percent of its total electricity. And we will get to 1,000 MW by 2012.”
While the Governor. in the original press release from BPU, called New Jersey a leader in renewable energy, that claim was strengthened by his announcement three days latter. It seems that NJ is a leader on offshore wind at least on paper. What this means is that of the five companies that submitted proposals to the BPU for offshore wind, at least two more companies will get a chance to move forward and start the lengthy process of siting, permitting and installing wind farms. This is a major commitment to renewable energy.
There still many obstacles that must be overcome before the first monopole is placed in the seabed. There are too many people who do not want a wind farm off of our coast because of its “visual pollution,” possible impacts on the tourist economy, or for some other reason.
The Governor’s announcement also changed the game somewhat. The original proposal of the Blue Ribbon Panel was to begin with a pilot program. What the Governor has announced is not a pilot program but a bold and necessary vision of the future. Instead of installing 350 megawatts of offshore wind the goal is 1,000 megawatts by 2012 and 3,000 megawatts of renewable energy by 2020. We need to install as much renewable energy as possible if we are have any chance of meeting the State’s goal of reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020. This is a very good start. I hope that this not a greenwashing moment but a true committment by this administration.