November 16, 2022
So far, just one project is up and running, in Rhode Island, while another is under construction off Virginia, where two of an expected 176 turbines are operating. Plenty of people in Ocean City, a popular beach community south of Atlantic City, are dead-set against a project proposed by Orsted and PSEG that still needs state approval to bring a power line onshore.
If even a small portion of them were to face protracted legal or regulatory challenges, it could pose a serious obstacle to the industry. Anticipating such opposition, New Jersey changed its law to effectively wrest control of offshore wind projects from local governments, empowering its state Board of Public Utilities to approve them when the locals balk.