Delsea Energy has filed initial permit applications with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the US Army Corps of Engineers to build a utility scale wind farm project offshore New Jersey.
The company has said that the initial permits would authorize installation of a data collection and monitoring station in the Delaware Bay. The station is the first phase of a project that could ultimately include over a 100 wind turbines in the shallow waters of the upper Delaware Bay.
The four monitoring stations located on platforms in the bay will confirm the strength of the wind resource in the area and also will enable the performance of scientific studies to ensure the wind turbines will not result in unacceptable impacts to birds, bats or other sensitive wildlife.
According to the company, the wind turbines proposed for the Delaware Bay would be located between one and two miles offshore, 2,000ft from the main shipping channel, in an area extending from just north of the Miah Maull Shoal to an area just north of the Ship John Shoal Lighthouse.
Delsea Energy anticipates that the initial studies will take a full year to complete, after which the precise number and placement of turbines can be determined for subsequent permit applications.
John Renz, Delsea Energy’s vice president of business development, said: This project can fulfill 13% of governor Corzine’s visionary energy master plan goals for offshore wind power and these turbines, located in shallow water, are easier to build than the ocean based deep water turbines.
