The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has approved the Construction and Operations Plan (COP) for the 2.8 GW Atlantic Shores South Offshore Wind projects in federal waters off New Jersey.
The original lease was divided into two separate leases, both approximately 8.7 miles (about 14 kilometres) offshore New Jersey at their closest points.
The approved COP includes up to 197 total locations for wind turbines, offshore substations, and a meteorological tower, with subsea transmission cables potentially making landfall in Atlantic City and Sea Girt, providing electricity to the New Jersey grid.
This is the final approval needed from BOEM following the Department of Interior’s July 2024 Record of Decision.
“Atlantic Shores is thrilled to receive approval to build our first two projects and deliver sufficient clean power to serve one third of New Jersey households. Securing these critical approvals enables New Jersey’s first offshore wind project to start construction next year and represents meaningful progress in New Jersey achieving 100% clean energy by 2035″, said Joris Veldhoven , Chief Executive Officer, Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind.
Atlantic Shores Projects 1 and 2 represent 2.8 GW of renewable energy. Atlantic Shores Project 1 is New Jersey’s first offshore wind project, and COP approval is said to enable the near-term creation of thousands of in-demand jobs and acceleration of billions of dollars in supply chain investments being made in the Garden State.
Atlantic Shores Project 2 will build on this first-mover success and drive economic growth across the state over the next decade, according to the press release.
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Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind (Atlantic Shores) is a 50:50 partnership between Shell New Energies US LLC and EDF-RE Offshore Development, LLC (a subsidiary of EDF Renewables North America).
The joint venture holds 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 Atlantic Shores South Project 1 and Atlantic Shores South Project 2, while the northern part of the block was given a new lease number, OCS-A 0549, and named Atlantic Shores North by the lease owners.
The joint venture also holds lease rights for lease area OCS-A 0541, which it won in the New York Bight auction in 2022 and which it currently refers to as Atlantic Shores Bight.