State and Company Officials Outline the Challenges at Rowan Conference

State and wind industry officials expressed confidence in the future of the industry and New Jersey’s place as one of its leaders at a conference on Wednesday, Feb. 21.

The conference, titled “Moving Forward on Offshore Wind,” was held at the Sweeney Center at Rowan University and was the second such conference hosted by the center.

Tim Sullivan, CEO of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, admitted that the Orsted withdrawal from its wind farm commitments in October was a blow to the state’s momentum, but he argued that the state is still optimistic and confident in its direction and eventual leadership position in the emerging industry.

“Some people see offshore wind as a liberal pipedream,” Sullivan said. “This isn’t one of them. This is an industry being invested in by some of the most sophisticated and well-capitalized companies in the energy industry and by their infrastructure investors.”

Board of Public Utilities President Christine Guhl-Sadovy said, “This is New Jersey. We don’t shy away from a challenge, we hit it head on, and I think you can all agree that we are on the right track, moving full throttle to make New Jersey a national leader in the offshore wind industry.”

Present at the conference were representatives of the three companies authorized by the BPU to construct wind farms off the state’s coast: Atlantic Shores, a lease winner in the state’s second round auction, and third-round winners Attentive Energy and Leading Light Wind.

Guhl-Sadovy repeated the statement often heard from state leaders, “There is a cost to doing nothing.” She emphasized the dangers of stronger storms and the impact of health issues stemming from air pollution.

Both Sullivan and Guhl-Sadovy praised Gov. Phil Murphy for “standing strong” in the aftermath of the Orsted withdrawal. Guhl-Sadovy said Murphy’s administration is about New Jersey “doing our part to mitigate climate impacts, while safeguarding ratepayers and advancing the clean energy economy.”

The meat of the conference occurred in two panel discussions, one with the three wind energy companies on the building of offshore wind farms and the other on developing the industry on the Atlantic seaboard.

The three wind energy company representatives were well aware of polling that shows declining support among New Jerseyans for the offshore wind initiative. A recent Monmouth University poll shows a bare majority, 54%, of those polled supporting wind farm construction off the Jersey Shore.

Damien Bednarz, managing director of Attentive Energy, called for “early and often engagement” with the public. The Murphy administration has been criticized for not putting enough effort into public education and awareness while driving the initiative in a top-down manner.

Terence Kelly, head of external affairs for Atlantic Shores, agreed, saying, “This is a constant conversation that has to be engaged with by everyone.”

Leading Light Wind project director Wes Jacobs spoke of the changes that have been made to avoid the problems that came to light during the first round with Orsted. He pointed to contracts that now have inflation adjustments. There will also be fewer cable corridors for bringing wind-farm-generated power onshore.

The industry benefits as well from the altered economics stemming from the massive investments and increased flexibility made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act, he said.

The representatives for all three companies were clear that much remains to be done. Atlantic Shores has inherited the position of first implementer with Orsted’s withdrawal. Kelly spoke of the remaining unknowns, with supply chains being the “trickiest.” He also urged that decisions be made on how the projects will be funded. “We all agree 100% that it cannot just be on ratepayers,” he said.

The second panel dealt with the economic benefits of a leadership position on the Atlantic coast and what it will take to achieve that position. The panelists were Dan Kent, labor relations manager, Vineyard Offshore; Anne Reynolds, vice president of offshore wind at the American Clean Power Association; Dan Fatton, director of the offshore wind sector at the state Economic Development Authority, and Pauline O’Connor, executive director, New Jersey Offshore Wind Alliance.

Panel members talked about the wind port in Salem County, whose first phase of construction should be concluded by summer. The wind port will be the first marshaling space for offshore wind. It is expected to provide 1,500 jobs and to contribute over $500 million in new economic activity each year.

The panel also pointed to the EEW AOS plant in Paulsboro, which will produce monopiles for offshore wind turbines. Full production is expected to provide more than 500 jobs, with over 100 monopiles manufactured each year.

Sullivan predicted more challenges. “We will have times when something bad will happen,” he said, calling it part of the nature of creating a new industry.

As the panelists spoke of the economic benefits of offshore wind energy, what also became clear was the mammoth size of the transition they were participating in, from workforce development, to supply chain creation, to construction challenges, and including multistate energy sharing through a greatly improved onshore transmission system.

Saying that the state was in this for the gold medal, not the bronze, Sullivan added, “If you had sold all your Apple stock in the late ’90s, you’d feel pretty stupid right now.”

The takeaways from the conference included confirmation that the task ahead is huge, unknown challenges await, and the schedule for getting to actual power generation, at least from the newest of the approved leases, is years away. Long periods to payoffs and changes in political leadership can lead to eroding public support.

That makes another key takeaway from the conference that the advocates of offshore wind need to be doing a much better job with the public, something they all agree on, but for which there was no plan or schedule discussed.

A video record of the conference was captured by Rowan Television Network and is available to the public on YouTube.

Contact the author, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.