New Jersey has created a website portal for investors in the US east coast state’s offshore wind projects to source potential suppliers.
State Governor Phil Murphy announced the creation of the ‘New Jersey Offshore Wind Supply Chain Registry’, which will be developed as part of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s (NJEDA) membership in the Business Network for Offshore Wind (BNOW).
The free-to-use website will enable investors exploring offshore wind-related projects in the state to find New Jersey-based companies to partner with or purchase from.
To expedite the development of the registry and ensure it is ready to support New Jersey’s current 1100MW solicitation, NJEDA is working with BNOW to provide free access to the New Jersey portion of the network’s industry-reviewed supply chain registry.
Governor Murphy said: “Developing a robust offshore wind industry is a key step to building a stronger, fairer New Jersey economy that provides good jobs and protects our environment for future generations.”
NJEDA, through its Office of Economic Transformation, has been working closely with various agencies and the Board of Public Utilities to expand New Jersey’s offshore wind industry.
“The lack of a comprehensive, searchable list of New Jersey-based offshore wind partners has been a consistent hurdle to unlocking offshore wind’s full potential to create new jobs and grow our economy,” said Brian Sabina, NJEDA senior vice president, Office of Economic Transformation.
Sabina said that the NJEDA has set a goal of including more than 650 New Jersey-based companies in the registry by mid-August, in time for the next annual Time for Turbines event in Atlantic City.
The registry will be accepting sign-ups and giving demonstrations of the system at the Network’s booth throughout the IPF conference.
Usually BNOW does not open its registry up to the public, but the partnership with the NJEDA will make the New Jersey-based companies portion of the registry publicly available for free through the NJEDA website.