Offshore wind opponent 'not surprised' by project delay along Jersey coast

NEW JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — One of the companies with a contract to build a wind farm in New Jersey says they are experiencing supply chain problems and need to hit pause . An offshore wind opponent says this isn’t even remotely surprising.

Costs and sourcing were cited by offshore wind company Leading Light as imminent problems and they have petitioned the Board of Public Utilities to delay the project off the coast of Atlantic and Ocean Counties.

They were awarded a contract to build turbines 40 miles off the Jersey Shore. One of the issues is finding a manufacturer that builds turbines large enough to operate the massive windmills.

Robin Shaffer with the group Protect Our Coast says the entire industry is a boondoggle.

“The enormity of these structures is hard to comprehend,” Shaffer said. “One blade is longer than a football field. There aren’t even wind tunnels available to test these structures before they are assembled out in the ocean.”

He says Danish wind energy giant Orsted was forced to bail on the project because of costs and supply issues, too.

Gov. Phil Murphy says the success of the offshore industry is important for the state's economy as well as meeting his climate goals of zero emissions .

KYW reached out to the Board of Public Utilities and Leading Light for comment. BPU declined to speak on the pending petition and Leading Light did not respond.

“The deeper they get into these projects, the more expensive everything is and the more money they need from taxpayers and rare payers,” Shaffer said. “And that’s what I meant by collapsing under its own weight. This whole scheme doesn’t make any sense.”