Atlantic Shores South Offshore Wind Project Approved in US

The US Department of the Interior has given its approval to the Atlantic Shores South offshore wind energy project, marking the ninth commercial-scale offshore wind energy project endorsed by the current administration.

With this latest approval, the US has sanctioned over 13GW of clean energy from offshore wind projects, sufficient to power nearly five million homes.

The Atlantic Shores South wind project includes two wind energy facilities — Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Project 1 and 2 — along with associated export cables. These facilities are expected to produce up to 2.8GW of electricity, enough to supply renewable energy to approximately one million homes.

Situated about 14 km off the coast of New Jersey at its nearest point, the project is being developed through a joint partnership between Shell and EDF.

To supply energy to New Jersey, Atlantic Shores South proposed installing up to 200 wind turbine generators and up to 10 offshore substations with subsea transmission cables potentially making landfall in Atlantic City and Sea Girt, New Jersey. However, the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has approved the construction of up to 195 wind turbine generators.

In other recent developments in US offshore wind energy, Avangrid has received full federal approval for the construction and operations plan for the New England Wind 1 and 2 offshore projects, previously known as Park City Wind and Commonwealth Wind.