At one of the public hearings on the New Jersey Energy Master Plan (EMP), held by the state’s Board of Public Utilities (BPU), chairman of Senate Environment and Energy Committee, Senator Bob Smith, expressed his support to offshore wind as a valuable renewable energy source.
Discussing offshore wind energy at the hearing inevitably led to the case of Fishermen’s Energy’s proposed project off Atlantic City.
Senator Smith said the New Jersey regulators declared that offshore wind is not economically viable to the state based on assumptions. “And I don’t think you can make that conclusion without giving it a trial. Try it on a small scale,” he told PolitickerNJ.
New Jersey has set goals to develop 1.1GW of offshore wind capacity by 2020, which is unlikely to be achieved since state regulation on offshore wind development is four years in delay from being adopted. New Jersey BPU recently said it is planning to hire an outside consultant to advise on state regulation for offshore wind development.
Offshore WIND Staff; Image: Fishermen’s Energy