New Jersey wind port will be one of several to serve energy industry

The development of a marshaling facility was announced in June by the state’s governor. Manufacturing and O&M ports will also be required.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy’s announcement in June that the state plans to develop a first-in-the-nation wind port was interesting enough. But a look at the broader development of a wind energy industry in New Jersey, and in the waters off its coast, is even more interesting, especially for ports.

The investment announced by Murphy, a Democrat, was about a location to provide for the assembly of wind towers for projects off the East Coast. But the wind port contemplated by the governor, which is projected to begin operations in 2023, will be just one of a network of ports that will be dealing with aspects of the wind industry, in New Jersey as well as in nearby states.

It turns out there are three kinds of ports that are needed to support the construction and operation of offshore wind farms. Manufacturing ports are those that have the facilities to receive, assemble, and store wind energy components. Operations and maintenance (O&M) ports will be home to vessels that carry technical crews to wind sites on a daily basis. The third kind of port, which was the subject of Murphy’s announcement, is a marshalling port, where wind towers are assembled and craned onto special vessels that carry them to offshore sites in a vertical orientation.

Port of Paulsboro, NJ

The Port of Paulsboro, N.J., inaugurated in 2017 by the South Jersey Port Corporation as part of a strategy to expand area breakbulk facilities, is in the running to become a manufacturing port. “We have been aggressively looking at Paulsboro for the manufacturing of components,” said Andy Saporito, SJPC’s executive director and CEO. Paulsboro has the required capacity to handle heavy and large components, Saporito added.

New Jersey coastal harbors that accommodate commercial fishing vessels may soon be functioning as O&M ports for wind projects. “O&M vessels need to be as close as possible to the wind turbines themselves,” said Brian Sabina, a senior vice president at the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA), the key agency behind wind development in the state. “The crew goes out to the wind farm every day, so transfer vessels need to be available right along the shore.” 

O&M vessels are comparable in size to commercial fishing boats and larger recreational craft. Locations in Atlantic City and Cape May, among others, could fit the bill as O&M ports, according to Saporito.

Marshaling ports have a different set of criteria. Since it is next to impossible to assemble wind towers in the open ocean, landside infrastructure is required for that purpose. European wind projects figured out that the best way to plant the 500-foot towers offshore is by assembling them and installing their blades in port and then transporting them vertically by vessel to the wind-farm site.

“That is a major challenge for most ports in the United States,” said Sabina, “because there can be no vertical restrictions, such as bridges, between the port and the open ocean.” A marshaling port also must have wharves that can accommodate up to 800 tons.

The marshaling-port site decided upon after a 22-month assessment is an artificial island on the eastern shores of the Delaware River southwest of the City of Salem. Construction is planned in two phases, beginning in mid-2021. Phase 1, which will develop 55 acres, is projected to start operations by mid-2023. Phase 2 will add another 150 acres to accommodate marshalling and manufacturing activities, and is scheduled to come on line in 2026. 

The location of the marshaling port has implications for the nearby port of Salem, which currently specializes in handling dry bulk cargoes. The erstwhile fishing facility was redeveloped to handle bulk, container, and project cargoes, and was incorporated into a Foreign Trade Zone, in the 1980s.

“We believe the port of Salem can support some wind operations,” said Saporito, “and we are looking into how Salem fits in to supplying components for wind operations.”

Clean Energy By 2050

Offshore wind is a central component of New Jersey’s plan to achieve 100% clean energy by 2050, including a commitment to produce 7,500 megawatts of offshore wind energy by 2035. The state estimates that 30% of offshore wind energy produced on the U.S. East Coast will originate offshore New Jersey.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) opened two offshore wind solicitations, most recently in September. The second solicitation will award up to 2400 megawatts of offshore wind energy, potentially tripling the state’s committed capacity to 3500 megawatts. NJBPU commitments are key to supporting the development of a wind energy industry in New Jersey and off its coast. (See box on page 10) 

The state estimates the new wind port will cost between $300 million and $400 million to fully develop. NJEDA is leading the development efforts and is considering a range of public, private, and public-private partnership financing options. The precise financing scheme for the wind port has yet to be announced but observers note that the governor’s office would not have announced a construction start in the second quarter of 2021 unless there was a clear path to financing. 

“Planning and permitting work is certainly well under way,” Sabina allowed.

Similarly, the process of leasing port parcels to interested entities has not started yet, but Sabina anticipates that further developments on that front will be announced “in the coming months.”

When the wind port is fully developed, Saporito expects it will be serving wind projects well beyond New Jersey waters, to include projects off New York, Delaware, and Maryland. “Parcels like the wind port are not readily available,” he said. “When you look at the Connecticut State Pier,” which is also vying for a slice of the wind business, “you are talking about 30 acres. We are talking about 200 acres of property that we’re developing. This is virgin land that the state wants to dedicate to offshore wind generation. It’s different in size and scope,” when compared to other facilities that are being developed to serve the wind energy industry.