The South Jersey site of three nuclear power plants will also soon become home to the state’s offshore wind manufacturing and marshalling port following Wednesday’s vote by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) approving the lease on the site and $12.85 million in initial funding.
Public Service Energy Group (PSEG) owns the 122-acre site on Lower Alloways Creek, where the Salem 1, Salem 2 and Hope Creek nuclear power stations are located. The site is on the Delaware River but has good access to the offshore coastal sites where the projects will be built.
Under the lease, the authority will pay PSEG about $3.1 million a year for an initial term of 28 years, with a maximum term of 78 years, Jonathan Kennedy, managing director for infrastructure at the EDA, told the board.
The funds approved include $10.25 million for permits and project design, as well as the relocation of four buildings on the site, Kennedy said. Another $2.6 million will pay for “for critical path works, including the removal, processing and crushing of subsurface concrete from the leased premises,” according to the board approval order.
The board approval locks in a key part of New Jersey’s effort not only to create an OSW industry that can help meet the state’s clean energy goals, but to build out the sector to provide an economic and operational hub for other Mid-Atlantic states.
EDA Board Chairman Kevin Quinn called the approval of the lease “a critical step in support of the state’s onshore wind efforts.”
“These efforts are both impactful and strategic,” said Quinn, who is the founder and a partner of the investment firm Genki Advisory LLC.
Under Gov. Phil Murphy, New Jersey is working toward a goal of running on 100% clean energy by 2050, with 23% of that power coming from offshore wind. To that end, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) has approved three OSW projects to be located off the New Jersey coast.
The 1,100-MW Ocean Wind 1 project got the go-ahead in 2019, followed by the BPU’s authorization on June 30 of the 1,100-MW Ocean Wind 2 and the 1,510-MW Atlantic Shores projects. Together the two wind farms would produce more than half of the 7,500 MW that the state plans to approve by 2035. (See NJ Awards Two Offshore Wind Projects.)
All three of the approved projects are expected to use the New Jersey Wind Port in project development and operations, and Ocean Wind 2 and Atlantic Shores will include elements that support it. Atlantic Shores will partner with manufacturer MHI Vestas to build a manufacturing facility to build nacelles, while Ocean Wind 2 developer Ørsted has pledged to establish a nacelle assembly facility at the port in partnership with General Electric (NYSE:GE).
Nacelles are the covering or housing that contains all the generating components of a wind turbine, such as the gearbox, generator and drive train.
The lease authorization follows the EDA board’s approval in July of the hiring of New Jersey’s Tishman Construction as construction manager for the project. At that time, the board approved $150,000 to start preconstruction activities, including estimating costs, finalizing design development, preparing construction documents, evaluating constructability and developing a site logistics and mobilization plan.
The board also voted to move ahead with a memorandum of understanding between the EDA and the New Jersey BPU to accelerate workforce development for the OSW sector in the state. A board memo on the agreement states that the BPU will provide $7 million “to support the development and delivery of workforce training, education, research and innovation programs that will empower New Jerseyans to participate in the offshore wind industry.”
The MOU “will help New Jersey to achieve its offshore wind goals while also creating new opportunities for New Jersey workers,” the memo says.