Winds of Change

Montclair State University

At the end of last year (2022,) I had the opportunity to attend the Clean and Sustainable Energy Summit at Montclair State University; the summit aims to facilitate dialogue for the development and execution of New Jersey’s plan for a clean and sustainable energy future. The event covered subjects regarding clean energy and its consequences. The speakers included areas like economy and transition from fuel to clean energy. Of course, offshore wind energy was present in their presentations.

The event was a wonderful opportunity to meet and speak with offshore wind developers and people involved in this field because they are inaccessible outside those events. The Offshore Wind Panel was formed by Jennifer Becker, director of the Wind Institute of New Jersey Economic Development Authority. Damian Bednarz, Director of Attentive Energy. Maguette Dall, Manager of Atlantic Shores, and Joseph Brodie, Technical Director of Allee King Rosen & Fleming.

Panelists agreed about all the opportunities for wind and clean energy in New Jersey; furthermore, they included that our state is well positioned to be the leader in the country. The reason for this perspective is the support of the federal administration and the Biden administration supporting clean energy unconditionally. As Jennifer Becker mentioned in different events, the tax credit program incentive will bring a large-scale manufacturing jobs and other activities to the state. The tax credit program expects to invest 350 million dollars for companies that want to join the clean energy. Besides the economic incentive, the state created the Wind Institute for Innovation and Training, an independent entity that coordinates and deploys resources around the Offshore Wind industry, especially in areas like workforce training, education, research, and innovation.

Maguette, as well, commented about the economic opportunities for the state. The incentives will help businesses to move around the transition between fossil and carbon-free energy; also, she added that the stimulus is not only happening in New Jersey or America but around the world. The Offshore Wind Industry will inject around $4.7 million into New Jersey’s economy and will generate about 10,000 jobs in manufacturing. The state is expecting to see 20,000 jobs related to offshore wind in New Jersey in 2030 in all the areas of this project. Furthermore, between 2024 and 2027, when the construction stage is happening, we will need onshore and offshore well-training crews. The Wind Institute needs to have the workforce ready for that stage.

Joseph Brodie highlighted the importance of academic institutions for researching the different areas and stages of this project; furthermore, the collaboration of the public and private sectors, non-profits, and different kinds of environmental institutions. He added that the state takes the ecosystem seriously. Joseph Brodie remarks that New Jersey institutions will help to bring and connect our community with specialized developers.

Offshore Wind is gaining momentum off the coast of New Jersey, and the state is doing everything possible to achieve the 100% clean energy goal for 2035.