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.
Licensing Information
- 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
Project Timeline
- 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
Metadata Documents
Environmental Papers and Reports
- Ocean Wind 1 Construction and Operations Plan (Ocean Wind 1 2023)
- Ocean Wind 1 Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) 2023)
- DRAFT Ocean Wind 1 Offshore Wind Farm Biological Assessment (BOEM Office of Renewable Energy Programs 2022)
- Habitat Mapping and Assessment of Northeast Wind Energy Areas (Guida et al. 2017)
- Bat activity during autumn relates to atmospheric conditions: implications for coastal wind energy development (Smith and McWilliams 2016)
- Offshore Observations of Eastern Red Bats (Lasiurus borealis) in the Mid-Atlantic United States Using Multiple Survey Methods (Hatch et al. 2013)
Environmental Monitoring: Ocean Wind 1
| Phase | Stressor & Receptor | Design and Methods | Results | Publications | Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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. |
| 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. |
No data publicly available. | ||
| 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 |