The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) said Monday it had approved the construction and operations plan for Ørsted’s 1.1-GW Ocean Wind 1 project, New Jersey’s first offshore wind project and the third backed by the Biden administration.

After BOEM released its Record of Decision, the Danish developer said it expects to begin onshore construction in the fall with “offshore construction ramping up in 2024.”

In a release put out by Ørsted, Gov. Phil Murphy called BOEM’s approval “a pivotal inflection point, not just for Ørsted, but for New Jersey’s nation-leading offshore wind industry as a whole.”

The company said the project, located 13 miles from the Jersey coast and with 98 turbines, would power 500,000 homes when it begins commercial operations in 2025.

“Ocean Wind 1 is on the cusp of making history,” said Ørsted Americas CEO David Hardy, adding that the project is set to begin “delivering on the promise of good-paying jobs, local investment and clean energy.”

The project is the third OSW project in the U.S. approved by BOEM, as the nation seeks to reach a goal of 30 GW of wind energy in place by 2030. The other two approved projects are Vineyard Wind off the Massachusetts coast and South Fork Wind off Rhode Island and New York. Both projects recently installed their first monopile foundations, according to the Business Network for Offshore Wind.

“Ocean Wind 1 represents another significant step forward for the offshore wind industry in the United States,” BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein said in a release put out by the Department of the Interior announcing the decision. “The project’s approval demonstrates the federal government’s commitment to developing clean energy and fighting climate change and is a testament to the state of New Jersey’s leadership in supporting sustainable sources of energy and economic development for coastal communities.”

Approvals Still Needed

The announcement comes as Ocean Wind 1 faces continued opposition from OSW opponents who question the cost to the state, say it will hurt the state’s commercial fishing and tourism industries, and have expressed concern about the impact on marine life, especially whales.

Nine dead whales have washed up on the state’s beaches in recent months, but state and federal investigators say there is no evidence that the deaths are related to the developers’ preliminary sonar mapping of the ocean floor. Some of the state’s Republican congressmen have called for a moratorium on the OSW projects until any potential connection between them and the whale deaths is investigated.

Yet the projects have strong support from the state. On Friday, both houses of the Legislature approved a bill that would allow Ocean Wind 1 to reap the benefits of federal tax credits instead of those benefits flowing to the state and helping reduce costs to ratepayers, as is required by New Jersey law. The bill has yet to be signed by Murphy. (See NJ Lawmakers Back Ørsted’s Tax Credit Plea.)

Stephanie Francoeur, a spokeswoman for Ørsted, said Ocean Wind 1 still needs approval from the Army Corps of Engineers, National Marine Fisheries and EPA.

“All of this is expected by the end of Q2 2024, which allows us to move forward with offshore construction,” she said.

The project already has received “major state permits” from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), including a Coastal Area Facility Review Act Permit (CAFRA) and state and federal consistency under the Coastal Zone Management Act. The project already has site plan approval for onshore substations, she said.

Expanding Litigation

Ocean Wind 1 faces two appeals filed against the decision by the state Board of Public Utilities to grant the project an easement over property owned by Cape May County and Ocean City on which to lay underground cables tying the turbines to a nearby substation.

The BPU granted the approval under a new state law that allowed the agency to override local government agencies on an OSW infrastructure issue if it was “reasonably necessary” for the project to advance.

Michael J. Donohue, the attorney for Cape May in the case, said the county is “reviewing the 177 pages and dozens of collateral documents related to the Record of Decision of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and other federal agencies released today.”

“Upon completion of that review, the county will determine what avenues for legal challenges, if any, exist to pursue,” he said.

Bruce Afran, a Princeton attorney who filed suit to stop Ocean Wind 1 on behalf of three groups opposing the project, said BOEM’s approval is “by no means a done deal, and the developer of the project is going to face expanding and growing litigation.”

The June 8 suit filed by Afran on behalf of Protect Our Coast NJ, Defend Brigantine Beach and Save Long Beach Island appeals DEP’s finding that the adverse marine impact expected from Ocean Wind 1 did not rise above the level allowed by state law. Afran said he expects to file a suit in federal court against the BOEM decision, saying that the agency’s own environmental impact statement concluded that the project would damage marine life and hurt the tourist industry.

“The approval disregards BOEM’s own findings of significant environmental harm to be caused by this project,” he said.

BOEM’s final, 2,300-page EIS concluded that the project combined with others will have a “major” impact on scenic and visual factors and on scientific research, but only a “moderate” impact on a host of other issues. The study found the impact on scientific research and surveys would be major, as would the cumulative impact of the project and others nearby, including on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration surveys that support commercial fisheries and protected species research programs.