Windfarm Proposal Would Put Turbines 42 Miles Off Seaside Heights

SEASIDE HEIGHTS, NJ — A French company has submitted a proposal to place wind turbines 42 miles off Seaside Heights, one of four proposals that were submitted to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities in August.

Attentive Energy, a subsidiary of TotalEnergies, announced the project submission on its website.

The announcement does not specify how many turbines would be constructed, but says the project would supply up to 1,342 megawatts of energy, which it says would be enough to power more than 600,000 homes and would generate $12 billion in economic activity statewide.

The proposed project, Attentive Energy Two, would be a joint venture between TotalEnergies and Corio Generation, the company said. TotalEnergies was founded in France in 1924 as an oil and gas company. Its United States operations opened in 1957, according to its website.

The third round of proposals to the BPU opened in March, at the same time as protests against wind farms were heating up in the wake of a dozen whales washing up along the New Jersey and New York coastlines.

The opposition to the wind farms has continued, with rallies on the beach in Seaside Park and on Long Beach Island over the summer, and another one is planned for Saturday, Oct. 7, in Point Pleasant Beach.

That rally, set for 11 a.m. on the boardwalk, is scheduled to include U.S. Rep. Chris Smith of the 4th District with an update on federal efforts. Smith opposes the wind farms and has demanded an investigation into the whale deaths. He and Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who represents southern Ocean, Atlantic and Cape May counties, also held a congressional hearing in Wildwood on the issue.

Saturday's rally is organized by the Ocean County Federation of Republican Women, said Point Pleasant Beach Mayor Paul Kanitra, who is running for election to the New Jersey Assembly in the 10th District.

Attentive Energy says its proposed project, a joint venture between TotalEnergies and Corio Generation, would reduce emissions to the equivalent of removing 10 percent of the cars from New Jersey roads, or 1.3 million tons of carbon removed annually. The company says the proposed Seaside Heights project would provide hundreds of jobs.

Corio Generation is dedicated to offshore wind development and is owned by Macquarie, an Australian company, Reuters reported.

The other three project bids submitted in August were from German firm RWE and New York-based National Grid, which proposed a site 37 miles off Long Beach Island; Invenergy of Chicago and and energyRE out of New York for a project, also off Long Beach Island, that would be 40 miles out; and one from Shell New Energies US and EDF Renewables North America, to build a project 10 to 20 miles offshore, somewhere between Atlantic City and Barnegat Light, the Associated Press reported.