Control of the governor’s seat in New Jersey is moving to a Democrat — a shift that could be a big win for wind power in the state’s waters.
Phil Murphy won the New Jersey gubernatorial election yesterday over Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno.
Despite having legislation in place since 2010 calling for mechanisms to support offshore wind development, including authorization of offshore wind energy credits, New Jersey never achieved any progress on that front.
Speaking to Renewable Energy World in September, Shiva Polefka, associate director, ocean policy, for the Center for American Progress, said that if Murphy won the race for governor, “New Jersey could very quickly spring to life as a major new market for offshore wind development.”
As part of his campaign platform, Murphy in April, called for a plan to establish a New Jersey offshore wind target of 3,500 MW by 2030.
Ocean Wind LLC, an Ørsted company, and US Wind Inc. hold leases for offshore wind development in New Jersey waters. Earlier this year, both companies requested that BOEM extend the term for the commercial leases from March 2017 to March 2018. BOEM approved the requests, and site assessment plans for the lease areas are due in March 2018.
Lead image credit: CC0 Creative Commons | Pixabay
