Atlantic City Electric (NASDAQ:EXC) outlined eight proposals Tuesday on how to enhance and upgrade New Jersey’s electricity grid to prepare for the influx of clean energy from the state’s planned 7.5 GW of offshore wind projects.

Anbaric, a renewable energy transmission and storage company, said its portfolio of 19 grid proposals could provide a “complete,” “flexible” and “low risk” system of land and sea power cables and interconnection points capable of handling New Jersey’s entire planned offshore wind generation.

More modestly, Rise Light and Power — a subsidiary of LS Power, a clean energy development, investment and operating company — suggested running cables from offshore turbines to a South Amboy, N.J., brownfield that, after conversion to a “renewable energy hub,” would be “uniquely positioned” to address the state’s needs.

The proposals were among 80 outlined by 13 companies or partnerships at a public hearing Tuesday that provided the first glimpse into the fruits of the competitive solicitation by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) for proposals on how to connect offshore wind turbines to the state’s grid and to upgrade it to handle the extra power.

The bidders laid out their proposals in a three-and-a-half-hour online session that was the first of four to review the responses to a solicitation conducted by the BPU with PJM under FERC Order 1000’s State Agreement Approach, as well as draw public input into the merits of the proposals. Future sessions will focus on integrating offshore wind energy into the grid, environmental permitting issues, and ratepayer protections and cost controls in the projects. (See PJM, NJ Seek FERC OK for OSW Tx Process.)

The BPU says it will decide which, if any, of the proposals to adopt over the coming months and will announce the outcome in October.

“The board is the ultimate decision-maker,” Andrea Hart, a BPU legal specialist who hosted the meeting, said as she brought it to a close with a warning about what the board is seeking.

“These projects are not likely to be pursued if they do not result in the development of lower costs, lower risks or a higher benefits for the interconnection and delivery to New Jersey offshore wind residents,” she said.

Identifying NJ’s Needs

The state is planning to generate 7.5 GW of offshore wind power by 2035, about half of which has been awarded in two solicitations, with another three expected, the first of which is expected to begin in Janurary.

In the second solicitation, the BPU in June awarded leases for two offshore wind projects: Ørsted’s 1,148-MW Ocean Wind II, located about 14 miles from the New Jersey shoreline; 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. Those awards followed the BPU’s first award in 2019 of Ocean Wind, an 1,100-MW project also developed by Ørsted. (See NJ Awards Two Offshore Wind Projects.)

The BPU and PJM set out a rough guiding framework with the elements that the board believes need to be addressed as the RTO prepares for the increase in power when offshore wind projects come online. They include four onshore locations on the existing grid — one in North Jersey, two in the center of the state and one in the south — that are suitable interconnection points. The board also identified several “power corridors,” through which lines could run onshore from the coast to the connecting sites, and five suggested routes for cables running underwater to the shore.

Finally, the BPU suggested an “offshore transmission backbone” running offshore parallel to the coast, to which the turbines would connect and on which several offshore substations would be sited, providing the connecting points for cables running to the shore.

Vying for Attention

Presenting their proposals, bidders sought to distinguish themselves from the competition, not only with project details, but by touting their experience in the field, understanding of the New Jersey market, commitment to helping the state meet its clean energy goals, and ability to bring jobs and investment to the state.

Jersey Central Power & Light (NYSE:FE), which provides power to customers in 236 municipalities in New Jersey, touted its heavy presence in the state and its knowledge of what customers want.

“One of the things we’re very proud of is that in 2020, we purchased about $500 million worth of local goods and services, and of those purchased in New Jersey, over 40% of them were from diverse suppliers,” JCP&L President Jim Fakult said.

Others, clearly mindful of the sensitivity of the issue and local concerns at the potential disruption from construction and laying cables, stressed their efforts to choose cable routes and shore landing points that would avoid such disruption.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) representatives said it had opted to pursue a plan, called Clean Link New Jersey, that would create power corridors and run cables to the shore from the transmission backbone. For the latter, the company proposes an HVDC cable capable of carrying 2,400 MW that would require one or two interconnection locations, the company said.

The offshore cable would come on land at a “nonpublic location where our construction will not impact the beach … and minimize any impacts to the public,” said Morad Hekmat, a project manager for Con Ed.

Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG), which submitted several proposals in a partnership with Ørsted, said their projects — collectively called Coastal Wind Link — would carry 4.2 GW of offshore wind power to the shore if all the elements were used. The proposals offer potential connections to not only Ørsted’s two projects but those of other developers, the company said.

Another element of the proposal is converting the AC power of the turbines and transporting the electricity through 320- to 400-kV DC cables under the sea floor, the company said. The cables would come ashore and run below ground to another converter, which will switch it back to AC before interconnecting to the grid.

Raymond DePillo, PSEG’s director of offshore wind development, added that the company’s proposal is distinct for its use of a “mesh grid” that links different offshore projects together, which provides the “ability to move energy between the projects continuously.”

“That means that the power can be delivered to the part of New Jersey that benefits the most from it in real time, lowering energy costs for consumers,” he said.