EDF Renewables North America and Fishermen’s Energy have submitted a joint petition for approval of the 24MW Nautilus offshore wind farm off the coast of Atlantic City in New Jersey.
The companies said the project is expected to create skilled offshore wind construction and operations jobs, “positioning the local workforce to build gigawatts of wind projects off New Jersey’s coast and up-and-down the Atlantic coast”.
EDF Renewables said it will leverage its global procurement capabilities for the wind farm.
“New Jersey will realise considerable benefits by moving forward with a small-scale project first, similar to the benefits that New England reaped from moving forward with the Block Island project years ago,” the companies said.
“Most importantly, the project will bring valuable lessons learned that will bring down the cost of future projects and position New Jersey to capture more economic value as the state continues to develop its most abundant natural energy resource,” they added.
The companies said the project would also improve environmental management by providing a “laboratory for testing of new avian monitoring and marine mammal sensing technologies”.
Image: Fishermen’s Energy
EDF, Fishermen’s file NJ offshore
By EBS