Biden-Harris Administration Gives Thumbs Up to Offshore Wind Project Off New Jersey Coast
The project, officially approved on July 5, will include as many as 98 wind turbines.
- By Alex Saurman
- Jul 07, 2023
It's official—a third offshore wind project in U.S. waters has been approved.
On July 5, the Biden-Harris Administration greenlit the Ocean Wind 1 project’s “construction and operations,” according to a press release. This project, to be built “13 nautical miles southeast of Atlantic City[, New Jersey],” will include as many as 98 wind turbines and as many as three offshore substations that will be able to power more than 380,000 homes, per the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI).
“Ocean Wind 1 represents another significant step forward for the offshore wind industry in the United States," said DOI’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Elizabeth Klein in the press release. "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."
The Ocean Wind 1 project is also estimated to create over 3,000 jobs.
Ocean Wind LLC was first assigned the area (which was to be used for “commercial wind energy development”) in 2016, per the Record of Decision (ROD). Over the course of the following years, BOEM met with and collected comments from many organizations and people, including government agencies, tribal nations and additional members of the public.
The newest project is the third major U.S. offshore wind project that the Biden-Harris Administration has approved. In May 2021, the administration gave the green light for the Vineyard Wind project off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, Massachusetts. Later that year, it approved the South Fork project near Rhode Island.
About the Author
Alex Saurman is the Content Editor for Environmental Protection.