The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) will hold a public stakeholder meeting on November 12 to discuss how New Jersey should plan its transmission system to accommodate the scenario where offshore wind plays a major role in the State’s energy future.
The public meeting will have a conference format and will have a series of panels on specific topics.
The first panel will look at other jurisdictions’ efforts to connect geographically remote generation through shared transmission facilities.
Interested stakeholders will also have an opportunity to share their insights on the optimal development framework for transmission infrastructure to meet New Jersey’s Offshore Wind goals.
Stakeholders will also present technical recommendations for offshore transmission facilities, where participants should focus on ensuring efficient growth toward New Jersey’s Offshore Wind goals.
The fourth panel will hear recommendations addressing issues associated with cost responsibility assignments. Discussion should consider potential for stranded cost recovery and risk to ratepayers.
The Clean Energy Act of 2018, Offshore Wind Economic Development Act (OWEDA), and Executive Orders 8 and 26 require the BPU to implement certain green energy initiatives to achieve 100% clean energy by 2050. To achieve these goals, the BPU has established an Offshore Wind Renewable Energy Certificate (OREC) to incent the creation of new offshore wind facilities.
In June of 2019, the BPU approved the 1.1GW Ocean Wind project proposed by Ørsted, the first of several expected qualified offshore wind projects eligible to receive ORECs.
The New Jersey BPU now said that, in preparation for future solicitations, it is establishing the first of possibly a series of technical conference-format meetings where interested stakeholders can provide comment on one or more offshore wind transmission solutions that may further the State’s offshore wind ambitions in a cost-effective manner for New Jersey ratepayers.