New Jersey is looking to strengthen its clean energy commitment in 2024 with new wind projects, an enhanced community solar program and legislation to aggressively improve the grid after a year in which the state’s much-touted offshore wind program (OSW) suffered a major setback.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) expects by March to pick the winners from the four projects submitted for the state’s third OSW solicitation, which could add capacity of 4 GW, and perhaps more, in line with solicitation guidelines.

A successful and sizable allocation of projects could help quell doubts that have swirled over the state’s OSW program since Danish developer Ørsted abandoned its two projects planned for the New Jersey coast — the 1,100-MW Ocean Wind 1 and 1,148-MW Ocean Wind 2. Ocean Wind 1, approved in 2019, was the state’s first and most advanced project.

Ørsted’s comments that the two projects were no longer economically viable raised questions about the wisdom of the state’s aggressive gambit on the OSW projects, which included the New Jersey Wind Port, to which the state has committed about $1 billion.

The projects’ demise marred a year that otherwise contained significant advances for clean energy policy. The state in November adopted California’s Advanced Clean Cars II (ACCII) rules, which require a growing proportion of new car sales to be zero-emission vehicles until all new sales must meet that criterion in 2035.

The state also created a permanent Community Solar program, based on the experience of two (heavily oversubscribed) pilot programs that confirmed developer interest. The program started accepting applications in November. And the state made aggressive moves to cut emissions from buildings, its second-highest source of greenhouse gases after transportation.

“Clean energy policy is a game of inches, and certainly the ball was moved down the field this year on a number of significant fronts,” said Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey. “Obviously, there’s always going to be bumps along the way.”

He called Ørsted’s withdrawal a “sucker punch,” but noted that offshore wind projects continue to advance in other East Coast states, and cited New Jersey’s third solicitation as evidence that the sector marches on.

“There are multiple projects in the queue that will allow New Jersey to benefit from offshore wind in the future,” he said.

Decarbonizing Buildings

Gov. Phil Murphy (D) set the tone on building decarbonization, signing executive orders in February designed to “advance the electrification of commercial and residential buildings.” He also set a goal of electrifying 400,000 additional dwelling units and 20,000 additional commercial spaces or public facilities by December 2030.

The same day, Murphy signed an executive order that required the BPU to look at how to mitigate the impact on the gas industry and its workforce as the state switched to using electric hot water and heating appliances in pursuit of a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below 2006 levels by 2030.

In line with that intent, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) in December launched a $15 million grant program to help commercial building owners retrofit heating or cooling systems.

The prospective shift has stoked vigorous opposition among business groups, unions and fossil fuel companies. In November, they backed a bill, A577, that would enable the use of renewable natural gas in the state’s gas infrastructure. But environmentalists, who say it is an unproven technology, fear that allowing renewable natural gas would weaken the state’s commitment to electrification. (See NJ Advances Multifaceted Building Decarbonization Strategy.)

New Master Plan

Murphy, and the BPU, remain committed to the wind sector. The governor’s vision of the state’s energy future likely will be laid out in the release of a new energy master plan some time this year. The last version of the plan, “Pathway to 2050,” released in 2019, has been a cornerstone of the state’s drive toward a zero-emissions energy policy. Business groups and Republicans have expressed concerns about the cost of the initiatives, which the governor has yet to fully outline.

Businesses are concerned they don’t know enough about the cost of the state’s proposed initiatives, especially the shift from fossil fuel use in buildings to electricity, said Michael Egenton, a lobbyist for the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce. He said he’d like to see more transparency this year and to see the Legislature more involved in clean energy decision-making, not just the BPU.

“I’m not saying that things should not be pursued, but it has to be done practically, logically, timely,” he said, expressing skepticism that the state can meet Murphy’s targets, such as the ACCII rule to have all new vehicles sold be electric vehicles by 2035.

“We need more information, we need to know what this is going to cost, and who’s going to be responsible for those costs,” he said.

Murphy’s task likely was made more challenging by the death Sept. 7.  of Joseph L. Fiordaliso, the well-regarded BPU board president and a BPU commissioner since 2005, who led Murphy’s efforts to transform the state. Murphy immediately appointed Christine Guhl-Sadovy, a clean energy advocate and Fiordaliso’s former chief of staff, as the board’s leader. (See NJ BPU President Fiordaliso Dies.)

Yet the board enters this year short of the depth of experience Fiordaliso possessed, with three remaining members who joined the board in the past two years. The Senate approved a fourth member, Michael Bange, a manager for New Jersey American Water, on Dec. 21.

Legislative Push

The Legislature also has pushed a vigorous clean energy agenda. Some Democrats and environmentalists saw the results of the November 2023 legislative elections — in which Democrats held their majority in the Senate and added five seats in the Assembly — as evidence the public backs clean energy initiatives. The GOP in some races sought to depict such initiatives as excessive and expensive.

Sen. Bob Smith (D), chairman of the influential Senate Environment and Energy Committee, which shapes many of the Legislature’s clean energy bills, sees two bills as key elements of the 2024 session. Legislators debated but did not act on either bill in the current legislative session, which ends Jan. 8. They will be heard in the next session, which starts Jan. 9.

One of the bills, S2978 in the current session, would put into law a Murphy executive order that set a state goal of reaching 100% clean energy by 2035. A second bill, S3992, would allocate $500 million in state and federal money to invest in upgrades to the state grid to prepare it for the expected surge in clean energy use, Smith said.

“Our grid is made up of bobby pins and chewing gum — the grid’s in terrible shape,” Smith said. “You can’t connect [a project] to the grid, because the utility, the [electric distribution company], will say, ‘Well, we have to do a study, and you’re gonna have to pay for improvements to the grid’” that are needed to handle the proposed project, he said.

Prior to the close of the current legislative session, there are several bills on Murphy’s desk that Smith hopes could produce important clean energy policy, provided he signs them. If he doesn’t, the sponsors would have to start the process again in the next session.

Bill S3723, the Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Battery Management Act, would prohibit the disposal of vehicle batteries in the solid waste stream and create a framework for the proper disposal and recycling of the batteries. Smith believes it is the first legislation of its kind in the nation.

A second bill, S3490, would adjust the rules for make-ready charging stations to make it easier to install EV chargers in certain situations, especially in multi-dwelling units.

O’Malley said the need to accelerate the installation of EV chargers is an example of an issue the state, for all its clean energy efforts, needs to address more aggressively this year.

“New Jersey is way behind other states on the national electric vehicle infrastructure implementation,” he said. “We need to expand our charging network everywhere, not just the Turnpike and Parkway. It should be as easy to find an electric vehicle charging station as it is to find a 7-Eleven or a Wawa.”