The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) on Wednesday will close the search for a consultant that the agency hopes will help create a world-class offshore wind research and development testing facility to enhance the state’s quest to become a coastwide offshore wind manufacturing and supply chain hub.

The authority is looking for well qualified firms to help develop a three- to five-year strategy to accelerate innovation for the offshore wind industry at the state’s Wind Institute, the EDA said in a request for proposals outlining the project.

The Wind Institute, a yet to be created authority that would lead state efforts to grow the industry, is one of several initiatives designed to bolster New Jersey’s plan to create a hub that will support not only the state’s own wind industry, but also provide materials, equipment and technology for other wind projects along the East Coast. Other support for the effort includes the business expected from the award of leases for three offshore wind projects off the state’s coast and the launch of a wind port specifically designed to underpin the industry, the New Jersey Wind Port, on the Delaware River in Lower Alloways Creek.

The winning contractor will support the Wind Institute’s mandate to “champion research and innovation that unlocks market potential” and create a “flagship” center for “offshore wind technology research and innovation,” according to the RFP.

New Jersey officials, who believe they already have a first-mover advantage from the state’s rapid push to build a wind industry, also hope to gain an edge through technology development. The release likens the proposed R&D facility to well known New Jersey research facilities developed in the past, such as Bell Labs in Murray Hill and Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, a U.S. National Laboratory.

“The Innovation Center will be instrumental in ensuring that New Jersey leads on world-renowned offshore wind technology research and innovation,” EDA CEO Tim Sullivan said in a release announcing the project in January. The facility, he said, will also make sure the state “harnesses the environmental and economic benefits of the rapidly growing offshore wind sector.”

The EDA, with a Wednesday deadline for proposal submissions, expects to award the contract in June. Under that timeline, the contractor would begin work in July.

The successful applicant will win a five-month contract with a three-month extension option to do work that includes providing background review and market analysis, a feasibility analysis and implementation plans, according to the RFP.

The state’s lofty ambitions to become a regional player in the offshore wind industry face strong challenges from other states. The Port of Virginia is looking to create a staging and preassembly area, and US Wind, which is developing a wind project off the coast of Maryland, recently announced plans to develop 90 acres of waterfront in Baltimore County into an “offshore wind deployment hub.” Developers in New York and Connecticut have plans for staging and assembly facilities in those states.

In June 2018, the U.S. Department of Energy designated the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) as administrator of the National Offshore Wind R&D Consortium. The project has since invested $47 million in wind research, with states including Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts and Maine joining the consortium, according to DOE.

Coastal Wind Projects Advancing

New Jersey’s plans are backed by its growing wind sector. The solicitation process for the flagship R&D facility closes on the same day that the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) starts a lease auction for six wind projects in the New York Bight. (See BOEM to Auction Six New Lease Areas in NY Bight.)

Separate from the bight projects, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) in June awarded leases for two offshore wind projects: Ocean Wind II, located about 14 miles from the New Jersey shoreline, which will generate 1,148 MW, to be developed by Danish developer Ørsted; and Atlantic Shores, with 1,510 MW of electricity in an area between 10 and 20 miles off the Jersey Shore near Atlantic City, to be developed by a joint venture between EDF Renewables North America and Shell New Energies US. (See NJ Awards Two Offshore Wind Projects.)

Those awards followed the BPU’s award in 2019 of Ocean Wind, an 1,100-MW project off the state’s coastline, also developed by Ørsted. The state is aiming to create 7,500 MW of offshore wind generating power by 2035 and expects to start a third solicitation later this year.

The state has set aside $350 million in tax credits to companies that make major investments in the sector and has allocated $500 million to the New Jersey Wind Port, which broke ground in September. The port is expected to include space for nacelle manufacturing and a 30-acre marshalling area for component assembly and staging. (See NJ Ramps up Wind Sector Support.)

The proposed R&D facility is expected to support and complement those plans. The EDA said it is looking for the successful contractor’s proposal to execute a range of tasks, among them:

• leverage existing facilities and assets in New Jersey in developing this facility and clustering opportunities;
• support and foster emerging innovations and solutions to offshore wind market challenges and opportunities;
• incentivize clustering and anchoring of offshore wind research and innovation investments and activities around and near the flagship research facility;
• support opportunities for New Jersey-based businesses to expand and/or transition their product or service offerings for utilization in the offshore wind supply chain; and
• capitalize on New Jersey’s existing expertise and reputation for research and innovation across multiple sectors such as cleantech, information technology and life sciences.

In a related but separate move, the EDA at its Feb. 9 monthly meeting approved a memorandum of understanding with Salem County to provide $100,000 to create an office of economic development in the county, in which the New Jersey Wind Port is located. The project, funded from the wind port budget, is designed to “catalyze the economic benefits of this once-in-a-generation investment within the county.”

Clean Energy Loan Programs

The two wind sector measures are among several clean energy initiatives launched by the EDA this year. The board, at the Feb. 9 meeting, also approved an MOU with the New Jersey Treasury that will enable the authority to participate in the U.S. Treasury’s State Small Business Credit Initiative. The state is eligible for $255 million funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, and one of the projects under consideration for the funds is a Clean Energy Business Financing Program, according to the agreement.

The EDA is planning to allocate $80 million to the financing program, which will offer loans that provide a $1 match for every $1 in private funds going to small businesses that are accelerating the deployment of clean energy technologies and result in the creation of new permanent jobs in New Jersey.

The agency is also looking to launch a Jersey Green Fund that would provide new bridge financing loans for clean energy projects that are “cost effective and leverage private capital,” it said in a statement. The fund, which was first floated in Gov. Phil Murphy’s 2019 Energy Masterplan, will focus on the difficulties that commercial energy efficiency contractors face. These contractors are often called in to do work on projects funded by the BPU and energy utilities but often face liquidity problems because they are not paid for the work until a “performance period of proven energy savings” expires, the EDA said.

The EDA at the end of January closed a request for information process seeking specific insights to help shape the program on financing availability and the cost of capital challenges faced by New Jersey’s energy efficiency contractors.

Jane Cohen, executive director of the state Office of Climate Action and the Green Economy, said the fund will play a role in responding to the steady rise in energy efficiency contracting activity expected in the next three years because of Murphy’s clean energy policies.

“Having a go-to resource that small contractors can draw from to help fund projects helps our state accelerate plans to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and grow an equitable green economy,” Cohen said.