EDF RE says it has been preparing for the New Jersey offshore wind market to open up since 2010.

Based on a survey of the market, the first step is to sponsor a near-term project, which will enable New Jersey to gain a leadership position in the offshore wind industry. Accordingly, the company has entered into a preliminary agreement with Fishermen’s Energy to acquire their fully developed 24-MW Project sited off the coast of Atlantic City.

“EDF RE is excited by the Governor’s ambitious plans to be a leader in the offshore wind space and we are eager to work with Fishermen’s Energy to provide an immediate opportunity for New Jersey to gain the benefit of local investment, jobs, infrastructure, and experience,” said Doug Copeland, EDF RE’s Regional Project Development Manager. “The U.S. offshore wind industry is poised for tremendous growth and we believe an early stage project will help New Jersey develop the infrastructure to support this rapidly growing industry.”

The project will generate skilled offshore wind construction and operations jobs, positioning New Jersey’s workforce to build gigawatts of wind projects off New Jersey’s coast and up-and-down the Atlantic coast. These workers will be the first wave of the nearly 40,000 jobs¹ that are expected to be created in the U.S., building the 8 GW of offshore wind that’s currently in the project pipeline.

Gloucester County Freeholder Director Robert M. Damminger supports the project stating: “As one of the only major ports in New Jersey able to facilitate the large volume of shipping and construction activities under the Governor’s ambitious offshore wind-power plan, we are a proponent of the immediate opportunity to evaluate our facility and labor force in order to identify and upgrade infrastructure and workforce training. This will allow the Port of Paulsboro to take advantage of the subsequent waves of large-scale offshore development in the region.”

EDF RE brings strategic procurement capabilities throughout the entire supply chain. The company will leverage its procurement team, having supply agreements in place for more than 9 GW of onshore wind in North America throughout the past decade, precise skill and long-term relationships with suppliers to source cost of energy leading technologies.

“This Atlantic City project is needed to establish New Jersey’s foothold in this new industry,” said Kirk Meche, President and CEO of Gulf Island Fabrication Inc., a global provider in project management, construction, and servicing of offshore facilities.  “The project can become a model for combining the Gulf Coast’s offshore fabrication experience with New Jersey’s labor, contractors and port infrastructure.”

“New Jersey is well positioned to become one of the first states to capture the energy and job-creating potential of U.S. offshore wind,” said Nancy Sopko, Director, Offshore Wind, American Wind Energy Association. “The state will greatly benefit from growing the offshore wind industry, and EDF Renewable Energy’s proven wind development track record makes it a strong partner as the state begins to harness this new ocean energy resource.”

EDF RE anticipates the project will further serve to improve environmental management by providing a laboratory for testing of new avian monitoring and marine mammal sensing technologies.  This unique and valuable opportunity will ultimately inform cost reduction for future projects.

“EDF RE looks forward to applying our innovation and investment to help Governor Murphy progress the promising New Jersey offshore wind sector that will ultimately provide much needed reliability and relief to the regional grid,” said Hanson Wood, EDF Renewable Energy’s Director of Special Projects. “Our extensive experience with projects in the UK, Belgium and France, will enable us to promptly contribute to the offshore industry of New Jersey and deploy capital investment to bring this first project online by 2020.”

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anticipated in December 2019, the Glaciers Edge Wind Project, located in Cherokee County in the northwest portion of the state, is expected to create more than 150 jobs during the construction phase along with millions of dollars injected into the local economy.

Glaciers Edge Wind Project, located in Cherokee County in the northwest portion of the state, is expected to create more than 150 jobs during the construction phase along with millions of dollars injected into the local economy. Once the wind farm comes online, anticipated in December 2019, the additional capacity will help Google reach its goal of purchasing enough renewable energy to match its energy consumption for global operations.

“The strong U.S. wind market relies in part on America’s corporate sector and companies like Google, who through the purchase of wind energy demonstrate leadership in the drive for a low-carbon economy,” says Dai Owen, Director, Power Marketing for EDF RE. “Their commitment allows Glaciers Edge to proceed, providing an economic boost to the Iowa economy, through new construction and operations jobs, expanded tax base, and recurring, long-term income for participating landowners.”

“Renewables from projects like Glaciers Edge bring value to our business as we scale and accelerate investment in the communities where we operate,” said Gary Demasi, Google’s Director of Global Infrastructure. “With solar and wind declining dramatically in cost and propelling significant employment growth, the transition to clean energy is driving unprecedented economic opportunity and doing so faster than we ever anticipated.”

EDF RE and Google forged a relationship in December 2012, when Google made an approximate $200 million equity investment in EDF RE’s Spinning Spur Wind Project, located in Oldham County, Texas. The business partnership progressed in 2016 with the power purchase agreement for the Great Western Wind Project in Oklahoma which supplies Google with 225 MW of clean electricity.

EDF RE is a leading developer among corporate buyers of renewables which demonstrates the trust that environmentally-conscious companies place in EDF RE to deliver value. The Company’s growing North America portfolio of corporate purchasers includes Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, Procter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark, Walmart, and Yahoo.

Glaciers Edge will bring the EDF RE’s portfolio of wind project development in Iowa to 1.1 GW.

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The Stoneray Wind Project at full-capacity will be equivalent to avoiding more than 300,000 metric tons of CO₂ emissions annually.

Stoneray Wind Project, located in Pipestone and Murray counties in Southwestern Minnesota, will be comprised of up to 50 wind turbines.

“Minnesota has long been a key state for EDF RE due to its favorable regulatory environment, excellent wind resource, and advantageous transmission expansion,” said Kate O’Hair, VP for Development-North Region. “Stoneray marks our 12th wind project developed in the state, totaling over 1.2 GW and further demonstrates EDF RE’s commitment to investment, involvement, and employment in Minnesota.”

The project was made possible because of grid transmission expansion. The planned improvements have propelled the project forward, which will come with an expected 150-plus construction jobs and 10 long-term, full-time positions, as well as millions of dollars in economic benefits to the local area.

“Stoneray Wind is a big addition to SMMPA’s diverse renewable energy portfolio,” said Dave Geschwind, SMMPA’s Executive Director and CEO. “Building on the success of the 100.5-MW Wapsipinicon Wind project with EDF RE, we’re glad to be working further with EDF RE to provide more Minnesota wind energy to our Members and economic benefits to southern Minnesota through this important project.”

The expected electricity generated at full capacity is enough to meet the consumption of up to 47,000 average Minnesota homes. This is equivalent to avoiding more than 300,000 metric tons of CO₂ emissions annually (according to U.S. EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies calculations), which represents the greenhouse gas emissions from 64,000 passenger vehicles driven over the course of one year.

EDF Renewable Energy is one of the largest renewable energy developers in North America with nine gigawatts of wind, solar, biomass, and biogas projects developed throughout the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

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