New Jersey advances offshore wind transmission proposal at FERC

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) and PJM Interconnection (PJM) announced Thursday they had filed for the approval of an Agreement to implement New Jersey’s offshore wind transmission grid solicitation from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

The Agreement, called the State Agreement Approach (SAA), would provide a pathway for New Jersey to advance the first-of-its-kind offshore wind transmission solution, part of Gov. Phil Murphy’s goal of 7,500 MW of offshore wind energy by 2035. The governor’s office said the SAA has the potential to serve as a national model for incorporating clean energy priorities into a regional transmission planning process.

“Providing a framework for implementing the State Agreement Approach is a critical next step on the pathway for efficient offshore wind interconnection between the approved wind farms and the onshore grid,” said NJBPU President Joseph L. Fiordaliso. “New Jersey is once again leading the way on offshore wind through this agreement approach, which unlocks the potential for drastically minimizing community impacts while saving money for New Jersey’s ratepayers.”

PJM and NJBPU have asked developers to propose an optimal mix of onshore and offshore transmission facilities that will provide economically efficient and reliable ways of delivering power from offshore wind turbines. Once accepted by FERC, the SAA will allow NJBPU to select from more than 80 proposals, all of which include ready-to-build offshore wind transmission solutions delivering offshore wind energy to the existing power grid.

“Under the leadership of Governor Murphy,” Fiordaliso said, “New Jersey has already established itself as the national offshore wind leader and the epicenter of the offshore wind supply chain, which will provide a tremendous boost to the state’s clean energy economy including significant job creation.”