Ocean Wind Turbine Project stays alive by single vote in NJ Senate

By Seth Grossman

Orsted is a Danish corporation working to install and operate 300 giant wind turbines. It wants to put them in the ocean nine miles from New Jersey beaches between Seaside Heights and Ocean City. Last year, several New Jersey state government agencies gave Orsted permits and promised enough rate hikes and government grants to guarantee profits for Orsted.

However, during the past few weeks, Orsted claimed that it needed additional funds to cover added costs. Last month, Joseph Fiordaliso, President of the NJ Board of Utilities (BPU) publicly accused wind turbine companies like Orsted of “dragging their feet”.

Governor Murphy and Democratic State Senators and Assembly Members responded by proposing that Orsted be given millions of dollars of unused federal tax credits. These credits were about to expire. The money would have been used to cut electric bills for consumers.

Opponents of Orsted’s wind turbine project strongly opposed this. They included citizen groups like Protect Our Coast in Ocean City, Defend Brigantine Beach, Save the Right Whale, and Save LBI.

Local government officials including the County Commissioners (formerly called freeholders) in Cape May and Atlantic Counties adopted resolutions opposing the wind turbines. Many Republican elected officials including Congressman Jeff Van Drew and Mayor Vince Sera of Brigantine publicly spoke out against spending more money on wind turbines. Hundreds of residents and business owners displayed signs and handed out literature opposing the project.

Last Friday, 44 of the 80 members of the New Jersey State Assembly, a majority, voted to give Orsted the tax credits it requested. All of the “yes” votes were Democrats. All of the “no” votes were Republicans. Five Democrats did not vote.

The vote was much closer in the 40 member New Jersey State Senate. All 15 Republican State Senators voted “No”, together with Democratic State Senator Vin Gopal of the beach town of Neptune in Monmouth County. At first, only 20 Democrats voted “Yes”. This was one vote short of the 21 vote majority needed to approve giving Orsted the tax credits.

Although the wind turbine project is now moving forward, the closeness of the vote showed that continued opposition can still stop the project. The closeness of the vote made national news and was reported by the Washinton Post.

If Wind Turbines produced the “abundant and affordable” electricity, they would pay for themselves. Developers like Orsted would not need rate increases and government funding to make their projects profitable. However, they don’t. Wind turbines are expensive to build and maintain. They are also extremely wasteful for many reasons. When there is too much wind, the extra electricity is “dumped” and wasted. There are no batteries big enough to store it. Because there is no stored electricity, and wind can stop or slow down at any moment, back-up generators must constantly burn and waste fossil fuels. Otherwise, they would not be ready to supply power to stop the grid from crashing whenever the wind slows down. Solar electricity is just as intermittent and unpredictable and causes these same problems.

This is why “green” solar and wind energy is so expensive. NJ Governor Murphy and the Board of Public Utilities previously agreed to double or triple our electric bills to guarantee the Danish company Orsted a profit on its proposed 300 giant ocean wind turbines. In addition, Orsted is entitled to some of the $369 billion for “green energy” to be spent by the federal government under the 2023 “Inflation Reduction Act”.

Yet all this money was not enough for Orsted to make money from this project. It needed millions of dollars more in the form of federal tax credits.

Although Orsted got this money, its Wind Turbine project is still far from a done deal. Orsted still needs additional land, permits, and approvals from Ocean City and Atlantic City. It must also defend a number of lawsuits. Orsted will need more approvals and funding from the New Jersey Legislature. All 80 seats in the State Assembly and all 40 State Senate seats are up for election this November. If just a handful of the State Senators and Assembly members who voted for Ocean Wind are defeated this November, Orsted will not get the funding and permits it needs to move forward.