New Jersey Offshore Wind Project Seeks Further 5-Month Planning Delay
New Jersey’s offshore wind project known as Leading Light is again seeking a delay in the process as it works to address challenges in the industry supply chain. According to a report from the Associated Press, the project which is being led by Chicago-based Invenergy and energyRE, has asked the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities for a delay in the planning process till May 2025.
The company received a previous delay after in July 2024 it reported problems in the supply chain and rising costs to the regulators. That was due to end on December 20, but according to AP, the company filed on December 19 citing continuing challenges in the marketplace.
The company had previously detailed to NJBPU the challenges of finding a manufacturer for wind turbines. The project won its approvals in January 2024 for a massive 2.4 GW wind farm to be located approximately 40 miles off the southern New Jersey coast using GE Vernova 18 MW turbines. According to the July 2024 filing seen by AP, the company cited problems finding an alternate supplier after GE Vernova announced it was not proceeding with the production of the large turbines. The report said the company decided supplier Vestas is “unsuitable,” while there were price increases and supply challenges to proceeding with Siemens Gamesa. Chinese companies also make large turbines but in part due to political considerations, they have not been deployed in the West.
The report from AP said no specific reasoning was cited in the new filing, but that a company spokesperson told them the delay would give the company time to address shifts in the market. The company is reported to be looking for a solution to address the issues including a price increase for the turbines.
The delay is a further setback for New Jersey which has faced a series of problems in starting its offshore wind energy sector. Ørsted canceled two projects that would have been the state’s first large offshore wind farms. In January, the state selected Leading Light but it remains in an early stage of regulatory approval and two other wind farm projects have also been selected by New Jersey. The projects have faced strong local opposition and it was in New Jersey that then candidate Donald Trump pledged if elected he would stop offshore wind development.
The incoming Trump administration has not announced its plans for the offshore wind sector, but recently several major projects have already been delayed. France’s TotalEnergies in late November announced due to near-term political uncertainties it was pausing its development plans in the U.S. for offshore wind. Recently, after Connecticut decided not to proceed with a wind contract from its recent solicitation, Vineyard Offshore deferred its second phase offshore project due to the inability to reach commitments for the full capacity.
The project director for Leading Light Wind, Wes Jacobs, however, told AP that they were continuing to work “to advance development” of the project.