NJ Wind Port Achieves Major Milestone with Approval of Land Purchase

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s Board (NJEDA) has approved the purchase of a 109.4-acre property which will enable the planned expansion of the NJ Wind Port in Lower Alloways Creek, Salem County. The approval took place during last week’s Board meeting.

The planned NJ Wind Port
is located on the eastern shore of the Delaware River in Lower Alloways Creek, Salem County, approximately seven-and-a-half miles southwest of the City of Salem.

The New Jersey Wind Port is a first-in-the-nation infrastructure investment that will provide a location for staging, assembly, and manufacturing activities related to offshore wind projects on the East Coast.

At full build-out, the Wind Port has the potential to create up to 1,500 manufacturing, assembly, and operations jobs and drive billions of dollars in economic growth back into the New Jersey economy.

Phase 1 of the Wind Port broke ground in September 2021, creating hundreds of construction jobs. The construction of Phase One of the project, including dredging, a marshaling site, and an initial manufacturing site, is estimated to cost approximately $400 million.

The purchase of the 109.4-acre property from NDEV LLC, a subsidiary of PSEG Power, will enable Phase 2 of the project as proposed, expanding the Port’s total footprint to over 220 acres and enabling it to support the marshaling of two wind projects concurrently as well as up to three co-located manufacturing facilities.

Construction on the first two parcels, including a wharf, component storage/assembly areas, and an initial manufacturing site, has begun, creating hundreds of local union jobs. This phase of construction is expected to be completed by early 2024.

“Today’s approval is another major step forward for the New Jersey Wind Port and for delivering on Governor Murphy’s goal of making New Jersey the engine room of the U.S offshore wind supply chain,” said NJEDA Chief Executive Officer Tim Sullivan. “The ability to marshal two projects at once, with additional space for component manufacturing, will turbocharge job creation, opportunities for small businesses, and all forms of ancillary economic activity both locally and across the state.”

Sullivan added that expanded marshaling capacity will also help to alleviate the current shortfall in fit-for-purpose port capacity across the region, helping states up and down the U.S east coast to deliver on their wind targets on time and cost-effectively.

The 109.4-acre property is set directly north of a property the NJEDA is leasing from PSEG Nuclear to develop Phase 1 of the NJ Wind Port. It is currently permitted as a confined disposal facility (CDF), with the permitting process to enable the Port’s expansion due to commence shortly. The purchase from NDEV LLC was for a negotiated price of $24.25 million.

The State of New Jersey is committed to constructing the New Jersey Wind Port using union labor and requires developers and contractors to pay a prevailing wage.

The State is also committed to setting a new standard for the inclusion of women- and minority-owned businesses during the construction of the New Jersey Wind Port.

The NJEDA has established a requirement that at least 25 percent of subcontractors for the port construction are small businesses and at least 15 percent are women-, minority-, or veteran-owned. The project also includes worker diversity goals of 18 percent people of color and 6.9 percent women.

NJEDA expects to commence tenant selection for parcels of the property in the coming months.

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