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Partnering with WREN, questionnaires are sent to offshore wind energy developers around the world who are involved in environmental monitoring. This page provides contextual project information and highlights environmental monitoring, providing links to available data and reports. Content is updated annually.

Ocean Wind 1

Ocean Wind 1

Contents

Wind Project Site

Title: Ocean Wind 1
Status:
Canceled
Project Manager:
Ørsted
Turbine Developer:
General Electric Company
Foundation Manufacturer:
Crystal Steel Fabricators, Inc
Info Last Updated:
Contact:
Info
(login for email address)
Website:
External Link

Details

Technology:
Fixed Offshore Wind
Project Scale:
Commercial Farm
Turbine Model:
Haliade X
Hub Height:
156 m
Rotor Diameter:
240 m
Number of Turbines:
98
Capacity per Turbine:
12 MW
Installed Capacity:
1100 MW
Support Structure:
Monopile
Inter-Array Cables:
170 kV
Export Cables:
AC, Buried Seafloor Cables
Export Cable Voltage:
275 kV
Number of Export Cables:
3
Cable Landfall:
Horizontal Directional Drill
Physical Site:
Shallow Water (<60m), Marine, Soft-Bottom Habitat
Water Depth:
14.94-35.97 m
Distance from Shore:
24.14 km
Country:
United States of America
State:
New Jersey

Description

Ørsted ceased development of Ocean Wind 1 and Ocean Wind 2 in October 2023. Ocean Wind 1 was going be New Jersey’s first utility-scale offshore wind farm, covering an area of 276 square km. The offshore wind farm began development in January 2010 and was planned to be composed of approximately 98 Haliade X 12 MW GE turbines, with a total installed capacity of 1100 MW. 

Location

Ocean Wind 1 was planned to be located approximately 24.14 km (15 miles) off the coast of southern New Jersey and about 33 km (21 mi) from Stone Harbor, NJ. The proposed landfall and onshore portions of the export cable route to the BL England substation on the barrier island of Ocean City and mainland New Jersey in Upper Township, NJ.

Project Timeline

  • 2026: EEW Group completes industry-first dismantling project to dismantle monopiles and segments
  • February 2024: BOEM approved a two-year lease suspension
  • October 2023: Ørsted ceased development of Ocean Wind 1 and Ocean Wind 2
  • October 2023: Constructions and Operations Plan approved
  • 2023: BOEM completed its environmental impact statement and onshore cable activities scheduled for September
  • 2022: BOEM released a draft environmental impact statement
  • 2021: EEW and Ocean Wind broke ground in April and vessel-led site surveys conducted
  • 2020: Site investigation conducted by Rutgers University and the MV Shearwater was demobilized in September
  • 2019: Geophysical surveys conducted by Furgo and Garline and a metocean buoy was deployed on the site
  • 2018: Deployed AXYS FLiDAR Wind Sentinel
  • 2017: Site assessment plan submitted, and site investigations conducted (offshore survey work and geotechnical)
  • 2016: Wind energy leases were signed
  • 2012-2013: Site Investigations
  • 2010: Strategy or Policy Development

Licensing Information

  • 2024: The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) formally vacated all easement property orders approving the Ocean Wind One project
  • 2023: New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), federal consistency determination and four permits for the construction and operations of Ocean Wind 1
  • 2023: NJDEP and Division of Land Use and Regulation (DLUR), Waterfront Development Permit and Coastal Consistency Determination
  • 2023: NJDEP and DLUR, Coastal Areas Facility Review Act Permit and Coastal Consistency Determination
  • 2023: NJDEP and DLUR, Coastal Wetlands Permit
  • 2023: NJDEP and DLUR, Freshwater Wetlands Permit
  • 2023: NJDEP and DLUR, Section 401 Water Quality Certification
  • 2023: NJDEP and Division of Parks and Forestry, Natural Heritage Program, New Jersey Endangered Species Conservation Act, threatened and endangered species consultation, permit issued
  • 2023: NJDEP and New Jersey Historic Preservation Office, NHPA Act Section 106 Review and New Jersey Register of Historic Places Act, permit issued
  • 2022: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), CWA Section 404 and RHA Section 10 Individual Permit
  • 2022: Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), Letter of Authorization
  • 2022: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries, Incidental Take Authorization
  • 2019: BOEM Construction and Operations Plan Approval

Key Environmental Issues

In an industry-first, EEW Group successfully dismantled 25 foundations (approx. 37,500 tons) and 66 sections (approx. 35,000 tons) into steel sections, allowing for easy further processing. Learn more about Ocean Wind 1's focus on the circular economy here.

NOAA Fisheries has developed Offshore Wind Lease Reports that summarize previous fishing activity within each offshore wind lease area along the U.S. Atlantic Coast. View Descriptions of Selected Fishery Landings and Estimates of Vessel Revenue from Areas: A Planning-level Assessment and Descriptions of Selected Fishery Landings and Estimates of Recreational Party and Charter Vessel Revenue from Areas: A Planning-level Assessment for Ocean Wind 1 (OCS-A-0498) here.

Environmental Monitoring: Ocean Wind 1

ID Phase Stressor & Receptor Design and Methods Results Publications Data
2074667 Baseline Bats Aerial and boat-based surveys 
Eastern red bat observations were collected incidentally as part of a large baseline study of seabird, marine mammal, and sea turtle distributions and movements in the offshore environment. Digital, aerial, and boat-based survey methods were used.  		Complete 
Surveys of wildlife off the Atlantic Seaboard detected a possible diurnal migration event of eastern red bats.  Digital survey methods also allowed for altitude estimation for several of these bats at >100 m above sea level. These observations provide new evidence of bat movements offshore and offer insight into their flight heights above sea level and the times of day at which such migrations may occur.  		Hatch et al. 2013 No data publicly available.
2074668 Baseline Fish Fisheries Monitoring Plan (FMP): Trawl Survey and eDNA work 
Includes a suite of seven fisheries monitoring surveys that will monitor and assess the abundance of the fish community as well as the biodiversity that exists in the Ocean Wind 1 lease area.

Monitoring fieldwork began prior to construction and will be carried out over a six-year period on local commercial fishing vessels through all project phases. The surveys will include the Northeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program style trawl survey and eDNA work involving extracting genetic materials from the ocean to determine whether the development of wind turbines and infrastructure has an impact on fish populations. 		Canceled
The study was canceled as of 2023 due to Ørsted ceasing development of the wind farm. 		BOEM Office of Renewable Energy Programs 2022 No data publicly available.
2074669 Baseline Physical Environment Benthic Assessment 
Broad-brush assessment of benthic habitats within eight proposed WEAs in the National Marine Fisheries Service Greater Atlantic Region (BOEM Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Planning Areas).  		Complete 
Provided the data necessary to establish a contemporary and comprehensive benthic habitat database for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) in the northeastern region of the United States to provide insight into benthic environmental issues and potential impacts associated wind power development on the continental shelf.   		Guida et al. 2017

BOEM Benthic Habitat Assessment