Community Offshore Wind Proposal Has Potential $6B Economic Benefit

On Aug 7, 2023

Community Offshore Wind, a joint venture between RWE and National Grid Ventures, has submitted plans to provide up to 1.3 GW of new offshore wind capacity to New Jersey. The proposal, submitted to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU), will generate power for more than 500,000 homes annually if selected. It would also deliver economic benefits to the region, including infusing an estimated $6 billion in economic benefits for the state through programs to build an offshore wind workforce and supply chain.

COMMUNITY OFFSHORE WIND WILL DELIVER BENEFITS TO NEW JERSEY, INCLUDING:

• The creation of more than 1,700 jobs in New Jersey over the life of the project, prioritizing programs for union labor and workers from overburdened communities.
• Investment in the offshore wind workforce to access reduced-cost transportation and childcare services. The services will be available to all offshore wind workers and trainees in New Jersey – even those not working with
• Community Offshore Wind – so that parents and workers from communities with limited public transportation or childcare resources will have equitable access to new clean energy jobs.
• A five-year investment in the creation of a Civilian Climate Corps (CCC), including funding for Newark, Trenton and Salem City, creating paid job training, job placement and post-placement support, with funding for 1,500 direct, full-time positions. This is in addition to the 1,700 jobs created by Community Offshore Wind’s project.
• Community Offshore Wind recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the New Jersey AFL-CIO to negotiate a Labor Harmony Agreement to support the project once it is selected. This provides a pathway for workers to unionize in various phases of the project.
• Investment in New Jersey-based fabrication suppliers and local companies to open new manufacturing facilities and expand existing sites for the production of major steel fabricated components.
• A partnership with a Women-Owned Business Enterprise in New Jersey to manufacture a support vessel to deploy, dispatch, and collect technicians for Operations and Maintenance activities.
• Significant new funding for HAX, a NJ-based venture capital firm, to foster the next wave of climate and clean energy innovation by local, cutting-edge startups. The partnership will ensure the state remains a hub for innovation and help build the companies and industries needed to support a more resilient, climate-conscious economy, fueled by clean energy.
• A commitment to purchase a portion of all in-state goods and services from minority-, women- and veteran-owned businesses.

Community Offshore Wind forecasts the project will reduce New Jersey’s electric system greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 52 million tons over the project lifetime (equivalent to taking over 11 million cars off the road) and marks a significant leap toward the state’s goal of bringing 11 GW of offshore wind online by 2040.

If selected by the NJBPU, Community Offshore Wind will deliver on these commitments for New Jersey.

“We are proud to submit this bid for a new Community Offshore Wind project with the potential to transform New Jersey into a nation-leading clean energy development, training and manufacturing hub,” said Doug Perkins, president & project director of Community Offshore Wind. “As the second-largest developer of offshore wind globally, RWE will leverage our longstanding expertise to maximize this project’s benefits to every worker, family and business in New Jersey. Our proposal is designed from start to finish to ensure this energy transition lifts up communities across the state and creates opportunity for all.”

“Community Offshore Wind will cut emissions and reduce reliance on aging power sources, while helping New Jersey’s leaders build the foundation of a greener, more resilient energy future,” said Pat Johnson, vice president and deputy project director for Community Offshore Wind. “The Northeast is National Grid’s home, and our longstanding experience delivering safe, reliable and efficient power to millions of homes across the region makes National Grid Ventures and RWE the perfect partners to New Jersey as the state embraces renewable energy and continues building its offshore wind capacity.”

In February 2022, Community Offshore Wind was successful in acquiring its lease area (roughly 126,000 acres) in the New York Bight, the area between New Jersey and Long Island, with a potential capacity of over 3 GW of offshore wind.

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