WyBlog

NJ BPU approves offshore wind farm

New Jersey's Board of Public Utilities voted unaminously to approve the construction of a 345.6 megawatt wind farm off the cost of Avalon (near Atlantic City). Garden State Offshore Energy (a joint venture between PSE&G, the state's largest utility, and Deepwater Wind of Hoboken) will build 96 turbines in the Altantic Ocean about 16 miles from the coast.

The project, which has been talked about for years, will finally come to fruition some time in 2012. Better late than never! Opposition from tourism and environmental groups was fierce and the inevitable court challenges are still to be played out but the BPU has now spoken forcefully in favor of the project. A unanimous vote lends signfiicant credibility to the plan. The five BPU commissioners are to be commended for their willingness to take action instead of listening to the perpetual naysayers and endorsing another round of pointless environmental impact studies.

Whatever minimal impact the turbines will have on wildlife will be more than offset by the benefits of this clean source of power. The wildlife will adapt; it's a big ocean. This project puts NJ at the forefront of clean power development. We definitely need more electricity if we're going to keep meeting the needs of our residents. It's been years since a new power plant of any kind was built here. This windfarm is the beginning of a new era in power generation for our region.

I just hope that nobody tells Ted Kennedy about it.

Posted at 10:56 by Chris Wysocki   []   Comments | Archived | Perm Link |   |   Tweet