Ørsted awarded 1,148 MW offshore wind contract in New Jersey, fully utilizing its Ocean Wind lease area
Thursday 1 July 2021
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) has issued an order awarding Ocean Wind 2 a 20-year OREC (Offshore Renewable Energy Certificate) for its proposed offshore wind farm with a capacity of 1,148 MW. With today’s award, the Ocean Wind lease will be utilized to its maximum capacity of approx 2.3 GW. The 2029 OREC price is USD 84.03 per MWh with a 2% annual escalator.
Ocean Wind 2 is being developed by Ørsted, the world leader in offshore wind development. Ocean Wind 2 will be located adjacent to Ocean Wind (“Ocean Wind 1”), the company’s first New Jersey project which was awarded an 1,100 MW OREC order by the BPU in June 2019. Ocean Wind 1 is being developed by Ørsted in partnership with Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) who owns 25% equity in the project.
As part of its winning proposal, Ocean Wind 2 will deliver several landmark investments that will generate over USD 4.8 billion net benefit for New Jersey and bring the offshore wind supply chain to New Jersey and to the US.
With Ocean Wind 2, Ørsted is bringing a commitment from leading industry partner GE Renewables (GE) to locate what will be one of the country’s first offshore wind nacelle assembly facility in New Jersey. This facility will assemble the nacelles for Ocean Wind 2 and other offshore wind projects in the US.
In addition, Ocean Wind 2 will contribute to expanding the Paulsboro monopile foundation facility, which was announced as part of the Ocean Wind 1 project, to a full-scope manufacturing facility. The full-fledged Paulsboro facility, owned by EEW, will represent the single largest investment in the US offshore wind supply chain to date and will bring to New Jersey the full manufacture of primary steel monopiles, including bending, rolling, sand blasting, welding, and painting. With a USD 250 million investment and expected to create nearly 500 long-term jobs, this facility will become a cornerstone of the US offshore wind energy supply chain.