The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities vacated all of its orders on Wednesday, Aug. 14, that applied to the Danish firm Orsted’s Ocean Wind projects off the coast of Cape May County. Orsted had formally announced it was ceasing operations on the wind farm development on Oct. 31, 2023. Since then the firm has reached a settlement with the state.

The May settlement included Orsted’s agreement to have the six BPU orders that pertained to the Ocean Wind development projects vacated. It also allowed Orsted to keep $175 million in escrow funds in exchange for that agreement.

The vacated orders included the approvals for Ocean Wind I and Ocean Wind II, as well as the BPU orders overriding local government easement decisions. The decisions by the BPU allowed Orsted to run on shore transmission lines across property owned by Ocean City and Cape May County.

A release by Cape May County states, “Today is a very important day in our ongoing opposition to these environmentally destructive offshore wind projects.” County Commissioner Director Leonard Desiderio asserted that the decision to vacate the orders “means it will be much more difficult for Orsted or any other Big Wind company to utilize these lease areas just a few miles off Cape May County beaches.”

The county release pointed to the turbine blade failure in Nantucket, Massachusetts, as an example of the potential harm the proposed wind farms can introduce into sensitive environmental areas.

When Orsted ceased operations on its Ocean Wind lease areas, Gov. Phil Murphy said the state would “fight like hell” to keep $300 million in Orsted escrow funds. In the end, the settlement means that Orsted pulled back $175 million and the state is able to keep $125 million of the escrow monies.

When the settlement terms were announced in May, an Orsted spokesperson said the company was pleased with the agreement. Murphy said he was pleased with the resolution of the matter and that the state would receive “a recovery of this magnitude,” referencing the $125 million from Orsted.

Cape May County’s litigation before the state Appellate Division and the Federal District Court “remain active.” According to the county’s special counsel for offshore wind, Michael Donohue, “We have informed the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court that we believe that there are still constitutional and conflicts-of-interest questions that they should hear.”

Donohue added that the BPU’s actions “appear to have nullified Orsted’s federal permits.”

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