Phil Murphy, the New Jersey Governor, is doubling the state’s offshore wind power goal, competing with New York among others, in order to set off an industry expected to create thousands of jobs.
Namely, Governor Murphy, alongside First Lady Tammy Murphy and former Vice President Al Gore signed Executive Order No. 92, raising New Jersey’s offshore wind goal to 7,500 megawatts by 2035.
Vice President Al Gore commented that
Today’s announcement couldn’t be more timely and more needed, as climate-related extreme weather events continue to wreak havoc on our communities. With this executive order, Governor Murphy is unleashing the unprecedented economic and job creating opportunities of clean, wind energy.
In fact, the plans of installing 7.5 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2035, constitute an increase from a previous target of 3.5 gigawatts by 2030, enough for more than 3.2 million homes, generating half the state’s electricity needs.
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Whatsoever, Bloomberg reports that Murphy’s goal still falls short of the 9 gigawatts New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is seeking by 2035.
Offshore wind could potentially generate more than $70 billion in renewable energy investments over a decade, spurring an industry that will help states to get all or most of their electricity from clean sources.
Murphy commented that
No other renewable energy resource provides us either the electric-generation or economic-growth potential of offshore wind.
It is expected that over the next few years, offshore wind power will expand impressively, helping decarbonize energy systems and reduce air pollution, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency. The report finds that, by 2040, global offshore wind capacity may increase 15-fold and attract around $1 trillion of cumulative investment.
This will happen due to the lower costs, the supportive government policies in place and some other outstanding technological progresses, including larger turbines and floating foundations.
Further to this, a group of researchers from various institutions such as Princeton University, published their findings in Nature Climate Change on Monday, November 18, forecasting that wind farms will produce significantly more energy than anticipated.
This will come as a result of the world is getting windier while developers are installing more turbines to generate electricity from breezes. In fact, it is highlighted that average wind speeds have risen almost 7% since 2010 in northern mid-latitude regions, reversing a trend of slowing winds in the decades before. Bloomberg further reports that small changes in the amount of wind recorded over a year can make a big difference for the probability of installing turbines.
