Trump uncertainty forces pioneering state to ice offshore wind power and grid
New Jersey regulator officially cancelled Atlantic Shores offtake while delaying nearly 5GW in transmission upgrades until 2033 amid Trump turmoil
New Jersey regulators were busy with offshore wind Wednesday, cancelling contracts for one its flagship projects while delaying related pioneering grid upgrades into the next decade for “future leadership” to manage.
The Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) at its monthly meeting officially ended renewable energy credit (OREC) contracts for EDF’s troubled, 1.5GW Atlantic Shores array.
The cancellation was at EDF's request who, per NJBPU’s recounting, said the project was no longer viable due to “uncertainty and delays” caused by “actions taken by the federal government since January 2025 as well as industrywide financial challenges that took place in 2021 and 2022.”
Its OREC contract estimated at $59/MWh was also seen as impossibly low after surging inflation raised US industry levelized cost of energy to around $117/MWh, according to National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Offshore wind grid
Also on NJBPU’s docket was a petition by Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) to delay its offshore wind grid expansion project by two and half years, likewise reflecting Trump-induced market uncertainty.
The award made by NJBPU in October 2022 was for a series of projects to interconnect some 4.89GW of offshore wind power into regional transmission operator PJM’s grid.
Critically, it also put the burden of cost fully on New Jersey ratepayers, rather than PJM’s 13-state network.
NJBPU directed JCP&L to “delay all possible expenditures related to SAA projects” for two and a half years, and requested PJM to delay its current projected in-service dates from 1 June 2030 to 1 January 2033.
“Obviously federal uncertainty has created a situation where we need to make sure that we're acting in a way that we always do on the best interest of ratepayers,” said NJBPU president Christine Guhl-Sadovy.
This action is “in response to some of those federal decisions around clean energy,” she said, adding, “We hope that it can continue at some point under different leadership.”
JCP&L had no comment whether its loan guarantees were targeted.
“We’ll continue to work with our partners at the BPU and PJM to build a more robust and modern backbone to the electric grid.”
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