Wind power in New Jersey

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Wind power in New Jersey is in the early stages of development. There are various projects underway to create windfarms along coastal areas in the state on land, on piers, and on the continental shelf of the Atlantic Ocean off the southern Jersey Shore. Legislation has been enacted to support the industry through economic incentives and to permit wind turbines on existing piers. Several proposals have been made to expand the use of wind-generated power which may lead to the nation's first offshore wind power pilot project. In October 2010, North American Offshore Wind Conference was held in Atlantic City, site of the US's first on-shore coastal facility. New Jersey is part of the Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Consortium. While less susceptible than areas in southern states, hurricanes could be a threat to wind turbines in the state.[1][2]

United States installed wind power capacity by state 1999–2011

Contents

[edit] Existing facilities

Jersey-Atlantic is the first coastal wind farm in the USA
Bayonne

[edit] Jersey Atlantic Wind Farm

Jersey-Atlantic Wind Farm, opened in 2005 in Atlantic City, is the first coastal wind farm in the United States.[3] In October 2010, North American Offshore Wind Conference was held in the city and included tours of the facility and potential sites for further development.[4] In February 2011, the state passed legislation permitting the construction of windmills for electricity along pre-existing piers, such as the Steel Pier.[5][6]

[edit] Bayonne Municipal Utilities Authority

The Bayonne Municipal Utilities Authority after some delays expects to begin operation of its singular wind turbine in 2012.[7][8][9][10][11][12] Construction of a single turbine tower was completed in January 2012.[13] It is the first wind turbine created by Leitwind to be installed in the USA.[14] and the first in the Tri-State (NY-NJ-CT) metropolitan area.[15] The turbine came on line in June 2012.[16]

[edit] Offshore Wind Economic Development Act

On August 19, 2010, Governor Christie signed the Offshore Wind Economic Development Act, which provides for financial incentives and tax credits to support offshore wind projects.[17][18][19]

As of February, 2013, the Board of Public Utilities, which is charged with implementing key aspects of the legislation, had not yet finalized all of the regulations necessary to carry out the policy.[20]

[edit] Proposed projects

[edit] BOEM Nominations of Interest

On April 20, 2011, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued "The New Jersey Call for Information and Nominations – Commercial Leasing for Wind Power on the Outer Continental Shelf Offshore New Jersey". The BOEM is responsible for leasing areas of the Outer Continental Shelf which are under federal jurisdiction for energy resource utilization.[21] This Call for information and nominations requested public input regarding the development of offshore wind projects in a designated Wind Energy Area (WEA) located offshore New Jersey. The Call also sought nominations from project developers of areas within the WEA that should be put up for auction for project development. The BOEM received eleven such nominations, and the entire WEA was proposed for development by one or more developers.[22]

[edit] Fisherman's Energy

In May 2011, Cape May-based Fisherman's Energy submitted an application to the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) under the Offshore Wind Economic Development Act for a demonstration project to build six wind turbines 2.5 miles (4.0 km) off the coast at Atlantic City, called Fisherman's Atlantic City Windfarm.[23] The wind farm was projected to come on line late 2012, but in August of that year the (BPU) announced they would delay until the end of the year acting on the application. A decision is expected on April 30, 2013.[24][25][26][27][28] A controversial report released in 2012 questions the economic benefits for the state.[29]

[edit] State Grants for Meteorological Stations

In 2009, the New Jersey's Board of Public Utilities awarded grants of up to $4 million to Garden State Offshore Energy, Fisherman's Energy and Bluewater Wind to undertake research of offshore meteorological conditions.[30] The grant to Garden State Offshore Energy is being used to install an offshore meteorological buoy to measure wind speeds and weather and wave conditions off the coast. Garden State Offshore Energy is a joint venture between Deepwater Wind and PSEG Renewable Generation.[31]

[edit] Atlantic Wind Connection

Atlantic Wind Connection is a planned electrical transmission backbone to be built off the Atlantic Coast of the United States to serve off-shore wind farms. Google and Good Energies, an investment firm, are the major investors in the $5 billion dollar project proposed by Trans-Elect Development Company which would deliver power ashore at two points, one in South Jersey and one in northeastern New Jersey as well as Delaware and southern Virginia.[32] The proposed system has been praised by environmentalists and federal regulators, but as a first of its kind project, poses significant risks of encountering unexpected problems.[33] On January 17, 2013 Atlantic Wind Connection announced it had selected Bechtel as the EPC contractor and Alstom as technical advisor for the first phase of the development.[34]

[edit] Port Jersey

In 2010 the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced its intention to build five wind turbines at Port Jersey on the Upper New York Bay within three years.[35][36] The windfarm is part of a larger plan to expand the container port on the manmade peninsula to accommodate post-panamax ships.[37][38] In May 2012, Global Container Terminals announced detailed plan of the port extension. It included the installation of 9 wind turbines in order to meet a zero emissions footprint of their crane operation during periods of wind power generation.[39]

[edit] Potential

New Jersey has the potential to generate 373 GWh/year from 132 MW of 80 m high wind turbines or 997 GWh/year from 349 MW of 100 m high wind turbines located onshore as well as 430,000 GWh/year from 102,000 MW of offshore wind turbines. In addition, New Jersey has the capacity to generate 16,000 GWh/year from 14,000 MW of rooftop photovoltaics, and 440,000 GWh/year from 251,000 MW of rural solar farms, and 44,000 GWh/year from 25,000 MW of urban solar farms.[40] New Jersey used 76,759 GWh in 2011.[41]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Cardwell, Diane (February 13, 2012). "Will Hurricanes Topple U.S. Wind Turbines?". The New York Times. 
  2. ^ Quantifying the hurricane risk to offshore wind turbines
  3. ^ "New Jersey Wind". Atlantic City Utilities Authority. Retrieved 2011-06-03. 
  4. ^ "N.J. soars in wind energy projects; four offshore farms in the works could generate 1,100 megawatts", The Press of Atlantic City, October 8, 2010 
  5. ^ "N.J. allows windmills for electric energy on piers". New Jersey Newsroom. February 8, 2011. 
  6. ^ Fletcher, Julian (February 9, 2011), "Christie enacts law allowing windmills on piers along New Jersey coast, including on Steel Pier in Atlantic City", Press of Atlantic City 
  7. ^ Hack, Charles (August 12. 2011), "Bayonne MUA says windmill will start generating electricity next year", The Jersey Journal: 27 
  8. ^ Uncle Sam paying most of Bayonne's windmill tab
  9. ^ Wind turbine to save Bayonne big bucks in long run
  10. ^ All geared up
  11. ^ Work on Bayonne windmill to resume shortly
  12. ^ Bayonne Municipal Utilities Authority’s towering wind-turbine project takes form as crane lifts center piece into place
  13. ^ Kowash, Kate (January 19, 2012), "Bayonne completes construction of wind-turbine project", The Jersey Journal, retrieved January 9, 2012 
  14. ^ LEITWIND goes to America
  15. ^ Wind turbine to be fully operational in by the end of March 2012.
  16. ^ Bayonne windmill begins to churn
  17. ^ "Governor Christie Signs Offshore Wind Economic Development Act to Spur Economic Growth, Encourage Energy as Industry". August 19, 2010. 
  18. ^ DiSavino, Scott (May 17, 2011). "New Jersey opened the window for applications to build what could be the nation's first offshore wind power projects.". Reuters. Retrieved 2011-06-03. 
  19. ^ "Assembly Budget Committee Statement to Assembly, No. 2873 with Assembly committee amendments". New Jersey State Legislature. June 24, 2010. Retrieved 2011-06-03. 
  20. ^ http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/13/02/21/offshore-wind-stakeholders-pick-apart-proposed-funding-mechanism/
  21. ^ http://www.boem.gov/About-BOEM/index.aspx
  22. ^ http://www.boem.gov/Renewable-Energy-Program/State-Activities/New-Jersey.aspx
  23. ^ Fishermen’s Energy Announces New Jersey’s First Offshore Wind Energy Proposal to NJ BPU
  24. ^ State Puts the Brakes on Offshore Wind Farm Initiative – Again
  25. ^ Docket No. EO11050314V
  26. ^ "N.J. offshore wind farm another step closer to approval", Bloomberg News, May 6, 2011, retrieved 2011-06-03 
  27. ^ Heininger, Claire (March 3, 2008), "PSEG, 2 others apply to build wind farm off NJ coast", The Star-Ledger, retrieved 2011-06-03 
  28. ^ "By 2011 US first offshore wind farm might be of Atlantic City". www.offshorewind.biz. Retrieved 2011-06-05. 
  29. ^ Fishermen’s dismisses report on offshore project as 'misleading'
  30. ^ "BPU picks offshore wind farm builder". www.nj.com. October 3, 2008. Retrieved 2011-06-05. 
  31. ^ Belson, Ken (October 3, 2008), "Offshore Wind Farm Approved in New Jersey", The New York Times, retrieved 2011-06-02 
  32. ^ Needham, Rick. "The wind cries transmission", Google, October 11, 2010. Accessed June 2, 2011.
  33. ^ "Offshore Wind Power Line Wins Praise, and Backing" article by Matthew L. Wald in The New York Times October 12, 2010, Accessed October 12, 2010
  34. ^ Frank Maisano (January 17, 2013). "Offshore Wind Transmission Project Selects Bechtel, Alstom to Build Historic Project". Retrieved January 24, 2013.  Unknown parameter |press_release= ignored (help)
  35. ^ McGeehan, Patrick (August 16, 2010). "Wind Turbine Projects Sprouting Around New York". The New York Times. 
  36. ^ "Port Authority plans windfarm for New Jersey". environmentalleader.com. May 10, 2010. Retrieved 2011-06-06. 
  37. ^ Wind farm could site on Hudson County shoreline
  38. ^ Hack, Charles (May 18, 2010), "Port Authority plans to build 5 big windmills to power new container port on Bayonne and Jersey City border", The Jersey Journal, retrieved 2011-06-06 
  39. ^ Terminal Overview – Global Terminal: 2014, Global Container Terminals – accessed June 1, 2012
  40. ^ Renewable Energy Technical Potential
  41. ^ Electric Power Monthly February 2012 Table 5.4.B. page 118

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Wind power in New Jersey
Wind power by state
Wind-turbine-icon.svg
Large wind farms
Wind power companies
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wind_power_in_New_Jersey&oldid=549375711"