BL England Smokestack Demolished For Offshore Wind Use

UPPER TWP., NJ — The skyline of the Jersey Shore is forever changed as the smokestack at BL England came down Thursday morning.

The 463-foot stack was the last major remaining component of the former coal plant, which shut down permanently in May 2019.

More than 100 onlookers gathered to watch the smokestack come down, according to the Associated Press.

“Everything went as we had planned: it fell exactly the way we expected it to,” said Chad Parks, a spokesman for the property owner Beesley’s Point Development Group, a New York company that says it specializes in redeveloping “distressed” heavy industrial sites.

Now, the power plant will make way for a different form of energy. The offshore wind project Ocean Wind 1 will connect to the onshore power grid via a substation at BL England. A similar substation is being constructed further north in Lanoka Harbor.

Because the power plant already had connections to the electrical grid, much of the infrastructure to plug offshore wind into the power system already exists in a nearby substation, making it a logical site to bring the offshore wind power onshore.

A cable will come ashore in Ocean City, run underground before re-entering bay waters and connecting at BL England.

Also planned for the property is a mixed use development that will likely house a hotel, a marina, restaurants, shops and residential housing units.

Further Reading

Cape May County, More Sue Feds Over Offshore Wind Approval

Ocean Wind 1 Delayed Until 2026, Developers Say

6 Charged During Protests As Offshore Wind Work Begins In Ocean City