Fishermen’s Energy Supports Energy Master Plan Renewable Energy Goals

CAPE MAY — Fishermen’s Energy of New Jersey ON July 18 announced its support for the proposed update to the New Jersey Energy Master Plan (EMP) which calls for increasing energy efficiency and expanding renewable energy.
Fishermen’s spokesperson Rhonda Jackson testified at the public hearing hosted by the Board of Public Utilities held at Rowan University in Glassboro, according to a release.
On July 17, Daniel Cohen, president of FERN, addressed members of the Cape May County Chamber of Commerce at a luncheon meeting in Cold Spring. He explained the initial and secondary phases of the project and responded to questions about the proposal.
See Wednesday’s Herald print edition story about that meeting in the Business Bulletins section.
Jackson commented that the EMP’s “target of 3000 MW of offshore wind by 2020 is an admirable goal, one worth achieving. However, currently there no offshore wind farms anywhere in North America, much less in New Jersey. This requires that New Jersey move promptly to approve an offshore test project ‘pilot’ windfarm so that the economic and environmental data required for more widespread implementation of this promising technology can be analyzed.”
Jackson noted that Fishermen’s Energy has submitted a proposal for an offshore windfarm off the coast of Atlantic City in response to BPU’s October 2007 solicitation for up to 350 MW of offshore wind power. Fishermen’s Energy’s project proposal meets both the Governor’s 2006 Blue Ribbon Panel definition of a “limited scale test project” and the BPU’s definition of a “pilot project” as was outlined in the BPU solicitation. The Fishermen’s Energy proposal has a Phase 1 component that could be the first offshore windfarm in America due to its modest size and being located in state waters.
The BPU Solicitation requires the winning proposal to conduct at least two to three years of post commissioning environmental monitoring impact studies as part of the award criteria. These post construction operational impact studies will be used by the permitting agencies in determining the impacts, mitigations, and design criteria for subsequent wind farms. Fishermen’s project could be operational by 2011, at least two years ahead of other proposals. This will allow the State to have the necessary database to map a course for New Jersey to achieve a 3000 MW goal by 2020.
There are significant benefits to New Jersey from offshore wind. Offshore, the wind blows harder and larger turbines can be installed. The New Jersey situation is similar to that of densely populated Europe, where there is limited space on land and relatively large offshore areas with shallow water. Since there is a high demand for electricity in the Atlantic City area, offshore wind can provide power without the need for major new transmission lines to import electricity from out of state or new fossil fuel-fired facilities.
Fishermen’s Energy is keenly interested in managing the impacts of offshore energy developments so they are compatible with existing uses of the sea.
Jackson closed her testimony with a remark from Fishermen’s president, Daniel Cohen of Cape May, “ As local New Jersey business people, long dependant on the health of our coastal waters for our commercial fishing businesses, the principals of Fishermen’s Energy are not only local, but are practical builders in the marine environment. We bring to our comments to the NJ EMP a long term vision of future development, that is based upon our long term history of participation in the economy of our coast and the management of our marine resources upon which we are dependant.”
Additional information can be obtained on Fishermen’s Energy’s website:
www.fishermensenergy.com