New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities (BPU) on Feb. 3 shut down its fourth offshore wind solicitation (OSW) after two bidders withdrew their proposals and a third — Atlantic Shores — lost Shell as a project partner. 

The agency concluded that making an award “would not be a responsible decision at this time,” BPU President Christine Guhl-Sadovy said in statement, offering several reasons, including Shell’s withdrawal as an equity partner in Atlantic Shores and from the U.S. clean energy market.  

The BPU also cited the “uncertainty” in the clean energy market “driven by federal actions and permitting.” 

Atlantic Shores, the state’s most advanced OSW project, had submitted a proposal for the fourth solicitation that included a rebid of its 1,510-MW project approved by the BPU in July 2021, and added a second phase that would have taken the total project size to 2,800 MW if approved. 

The board made its decision “despite the manifold benefits the industry offers to the state,” Guhl-Sadovy said. 

Gov. Phil Murphy called offshore wind a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to build a new industry and create jobs, but said he supported the BPU’s decision. 

“The offshore wind industry is currently facing significant challenges, and now is the time for patience and prudence,” he said. “I hope the Trump administration will partner with New Jersey to lower costs for consumers, promote energy security, and create good-paying construction and manufacturing jobs.” 

Community Offshore Wind, one of the two projects that withdrew from the fourth solicitation, said it did so after “careful consideration” because market conditions would not allow the company to meet its goal to “deliver energy projects that help address rising energy demand while meeting the development commitments established by state procurement processes.” 

“Given market uncertainty at this time, we could no longer commit to the development timelines under the framework of the NJ4 solicitation,” Will Brunelle, a company spokesman, said.  

The second withdrawn project, Attentive Energy, a subsidiary of TotalEnergies Renewables USA, did not respond to a request for comment. 

Change of Course

The abandonment of the solicitation represents a major blow to New Jersey’s OSW sector, which state officials had aggressively backed and depicted as a major economic engine in the future, and one in which the state was a leader.  

The reverberations were also felt across the country. Liz Burdock, founder and CEO of Oceantic Network, said the decision was “not surprising given political headwinds and the uncertainty across the U.S. economy driven by recent federal actions.” 

Jason Grumet, CEO of the American Clean Power Association, said the decision was a “direct consequence of the uncertainty created by the recently issued executive order” to prohibit the signing of new leases for offshore wind and to review existing leases. He said his organization hopes to work with the Trump administration to “expedite its review.” 

“The U.S. urgently needs more electricity, and offshore wind projects that have already gone through a comprehensive and rigorous permitting process are primed and ready to meet future energy demand,” he said. 

But in a sign of the shifting winds, Tim Sullivan, CEO of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA), which provided funding for much of the state’s investment in the sector, said the agency would “accelerate our strategic review of options and alternatives for the New Jersey Wind Port.” 

State officials have depicted the port, in which the state invested more than $500 million, as the only one in the nation custom-built to serve OSW projects. They said the port, which sits on the Delaware River, could service wind projects developed by states along the East Coast, generating significant economic benefits for the state. 

“We remain believers in the long-term potential of offshore wind for New Jersey, but our role as stewards of taxpayer resources requires us to evaluate all of our options,” Sullivan said. 

“While recent developments at the federal level and announcements from offshore wind developers are deeply disappointing, they were not unexpected,” he said. “We have taken a cautious approach to further development of the port since 2023, and we have worked to identify alternative uses that would maximize the economic development, job creation and financial potential of the site for the state.” 

Fossil Fuel Opposition

The sweeping reversal for the state’s OSW sector comes 15 months after it was rocked by Danish developer Ørsted’s decision to abandon its two projects planned for the state’s coast: the 1,100-MW Ocean Wind 1 — the state’s first-approved and most advanced project — and the 1,148 MW Ocean Wind 2. (See Ørsted Cancels Ocean Wind, Suspends Skipjack.) 

Ørsted’s exit left Atlantic Shores as the state’s leading OSW project, and in October, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) approved the construction and operations plan for project’s two phases.  

But the withdrawal of Shell, which partnered with EDF-RE Offshore Development on Atlantic Shores, emerged Jan. 31 in the company’s fourth quarter earnings results in which it took $996 million in impairment charges “mainly relating to renewable generation assets in North America.” (See Shell Quits Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Project in NJ.) 

Responding to Shell’s withdrawal, Atlantic Shores said it remained “committed to New Jersey and delivering the Garden State’s first offshore wind project.” The company’s release said it “intends to continue progressing New Jersey’s first offshore wind project.” 

After the BPU’s Feb. 3 announcement, Atlantic Shores’ CEO Joris Veldhoven issued a statement saying the company was “discouraged” by the BPU’s action.  

“Atlantic Shores stands ready to deliver on the promise of offshore wind to achieve American energy dominance,” he said. “Atlantic Shores Project 1 holds distinct advantages of an advanced permitting program, existing supply chain investments already putting people to work, a mature interconnection plan and a clear path to financing that made us the most competitive and deliverable project proposed in NJ4.” 

Company spokesperson Meghan Bianco said although BPU did not approve the rebid submission, the “outcome doesn’t impact the existing OREC in place for Atlantic Shores Project 1.” 

But the Sierra Club’s New Jersey chapter said it did not believe Atlantic Shores could continue without the BPU’s approval of the rebid and blamed the fossil fuel sector and the federal administration for the loss. 

“By not awarding Atlantic Shores the necessary OREC in the BPU’s fourth offshore wind solicitation, we have handed over four more years of unchecked and unchallenged profit to the fossil fuel industry,” the group’s director, Anjuli Ramos-Busot, said.