New Jersey offshore wind transmission plans ramp with $715m US Energy Department loan
Federal funding guarantee to enable nearly 5GW of renewables to feed into the grid toward the state 100% clean energy by 2035 goal
The US Department of Energy (DoE) is guaranteeing a $715m loan to Jersey Central Power & Light Company (JCP&L) for a slate of transmission upgrades aimed at injecting nearly 5GW of clean energy, mostly offshore wind, into New Jersey’s grid.
The loan guarantees come through DoE’s Loan Programme Office (LPO) and are funded by the landmark Inflation Reduction Act’s Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment (EIR) scheme.
EIR supports projects that “retool, repower, repurpose, or replace energy infrastructure that has ceased operations or that enable operating energy infrastructure to avoid, reduce, utilise, or sequester air pollutants or greenhouse gas emissions,” according to DoE.
JCP&L’s Clean Energy Corridor, a collection of five related projects, will enable nearly 20 million MWh of clean electricity generation annually, enough to power some 1.6 million homes in the Garden State and save ratepayers $150m over the life of the loan. New Jersey is targeting a 100% clean energy grid by 2035.
The work will centre on expanding transmission line capacity feeding into the Larrabee substation in the town of Howell that forms the core of New Jersey’s pioneering offshore wind grid plans.
The LCS award was the first under regional transmission operator PJM’s state agreement approach (SAA) by which policy goals are allowed to carry equal weight to cost, need, and reliability when planning transmission upgrades.
The project will avoid permitting delays by using existing rights of way to upgrade the capacity of lines feeding into and out of the Larrabee Collector Station from 230kV to 500kV.
Work is expected to begin later this year and employ some 160 union workers annually.
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