KEY QUOTE
"Today's milestone is yet another step toward our ambitious goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore energy by 2030," said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
WHY IT IS IMPORTANT
The approval for the New Jersey project brings the U.S. over a third of the way to the 2030 goal - a key part of President Joe Biden's climate change agenda - amid setbacks to other offshore wind projects.
Soaring materials costs, high interest rates and delays in supply chain last year led project developers including Orsted (ORSTED.CO), opens new tab, Equinor (EQNR.OL), opens new tab, BP (BP.L), opens new tab, Avangrid (AGR.N), opens new tab and Shell (SHEL.L), opens new tab to cancel or seek to renegotiate power contracts for planned commercial-scale U.S. wind farms, with operating start dates between 2025 and 2028.
CONTEXT
In addition to economic hurdles, offshore wind has become a target of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who pledged to halt offshore wind projects if he wins the November elections. Trump has repeatedly cited false claims being circulated by opposition groups that turbines kill whales and fish.
THE DETAILS
The Atlantic Shores South wind project is expected to generate up to 2,800 megawatts of electricity, enough to power close to one million homes, the Interior Department said. The project is approximately 8.7 miles offshore New Jersey.
