Construction approval for largest offshore wind farms in the US

Offshore wind turbines (Image: Adobe Stock)

The wind turbine area for both sites will total 413.3km² (102,124 acres) and deliver 2,800MW of power –up from an original plan of 1,510MW).

Developers believe the farms could power about one million of New Jersey’s more than three million homes.

If completed to the expected specifications, the Atlantic Shores wind farms would be, by far, the largest offshore wind farms in the US. 

The plan hit a snag last year when Netherlands-based Ørsted, a global wind farm developer, pulled out of the project. Since then, a joint venture (named Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind) of Shell New Energies US and EDF Renewables North America have taken on the scheme.

The BOEM approval is not the last step, however. The state’s Board of Public Utilities will need to sign-off on the plan, after which the Atlantic Shores JV is expected to announce its investment into the project and further detail the construction activity.

If final approval is obtained soon, project leadership expect the farms to be operational in 2028.

The project is one of more than a dozen offshore wind schemes ongoing in the US in the proposal or construction phases, though dozens more are currently in development. At present, the country has only three operational offshore wind farms, the largest of which has just a 136MW capacity (with plans to expand past 800MW). By comparison, the UK – which has an ocean coastline about 2,000km shorter than the US – has more than 40 operational offshore wind farms.

The US has about 150GW capacity for onshore wind farms.

Cost and construction details for the Atlantic Shores schemes were not yet available.

Sarens expands offshore wind power presence with ‘largest project of its kind in the U.S.’ Sarens will receive and load out 176 monopiles, 176 transition pieces and jackets and topsides for the three offshore substations for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind farm.