Shell-EDF Joint Venture Submits Bid in New Jersey’s Third Offshore Wind Solicitation

Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, a 50:50 joint venture between Shell New Energies US and EDF-RE Offshore Development, has submitted a proposal to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) in the state’s third offshore wind solicitation.

New Jersey opened the solicitation in March and is looking to award between 1.2 GW and 4 GW of offshore wind capacity, building on the previously awarded 3.75 GW.

Developers had until 23 June to submit applications and the deadline for applying for Offshore Wind Renewable Energy Certificates (ORECs) was 4 August.

The NJBPU is expected to announce the results in January/February 2024.

Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, which has also submitted a prebuild infrastructure (PBI) bid, says that its bid is “the most ‘make-ready’ proposal available in the third offshore wind solicitation”, based on “distinct advantages” of the joint venture’s advanced permitting program, combined with a total resource capacity of more than 5 GW across its portfolio.

“The unmatched maturity of the proposal to the State of New Jersey, including the PBI bid, provides a measure of certainty for on-time clean energy infrastructure delivery that can also accommodate multiple construction timelines from other projects selected in this solicitation or future ones”, Atlantic Shores stated in a press release.

“If selected, Atlantic Shores would supply renewable energy to hundreds of thousands of New Jersey households beyond the 1,510 MW already being delivered as part of Atlantic Shores Project 1”.

The joint venture already has an OREC in place for its 1,510 MW Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Project 1, which was selected by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities in June 2021.

Shell and EDF Renewables jointly hold leases for three offshore wind areas, which are under active development. Two of the areas are located approximately 10-20 miles (16 to 32 kilometres) off the coast of New Jersey, between Atlantic City and Barnegat Light, and one in the New York Bight.

The lease block OCS-A 0499 off New Jersey, which was first secured by US Wind in 2015/2016 and acquired by EDF Renewables Development in 2018, was split into two areas in 2021.

The southern part of the block contains the 1,510 MW Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Project 1 and the 1,327 MW Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Project 2, while the northern part of the block was given a new lease number, OCS-A 0549. Aside from the two lease areas, the joint venture also holds lease rights for OCS-A 0541, which it won in last year’s New York Bight auction.

In May this year, the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) published the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Project 1 and Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Project 2, collectively called the Atlantic Shores South Wind Project in the Construction and Operation Plan (COP) submitted in the federal permitting process.