The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has issued a draft solicitation guidance document for New Jersey’s third offshore wind solicitation in which it increases the target to 4 GW
The release of the draft guidance enables stakeholder engagement on the design of the state’s third solicitation and provides information necessary to enable potential bidders to assess the rules and requirements of the forthcoming solicitation.
There are several new requirements proposed in the third solicitation. These include the setting the solicitation target range from 1.2 GW to 4.0GW; offering an inflation adjustment mechanism; providing specific direction on New Jersey’s requirements for new or expanded supply chain facilities; providing minimum standards for the environmental and fisheries protection plans; setting the evaluation criteria weighting to 70% price and 30% non-price factors; and incorporating necessary information resulting from the Board’s historic State Agreement Approach transmission decision on October 26, 2022.
The draft guidance also includes an updated offshore wind solicitation schedule. The new schedule reflects the State’s expanded goal of 11 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2040, set by Governor Murphy earlier this year.
The new solicitation schedule provides developers and the offshore wind supply chain with certainty on the state’s plan to reach its offshore wind goal and will spur increased investment in New Jersey’s offshore wind industry.
“I am pleased to announce the release of our Third Solicitation draft guidance document and the new offshore wind solicitation schedule for reaching Governor Murphy’s expanded goal of 11 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2040,” said NJBPU president Joe Fiordaliso.
“As we move toward a clean energy future it is vital that we fulfil the promise of offshore wind in combatting climate change and providing good paying jobs while continuing to provide a reliable schedule for achieving our ambitious goals.”
A virtual public stakeholder meeting is scheduled for 13 December 2022 to review the solicitation requirements and receive public comment. Instructions for how to participate are available here. Written comments will be accepted until 29 December 2022.
