Wind has been a frequent topic at AENJ. So we would be remiss if we let the two year anniversary of the Orsted bailout pass without a recap and update of how it crashed and burned.

It’s been two years since the NJ Legislature gave $1 billion in tax credits that was supposed to come back to the ratepayers. Instead, that money was instead diverted to a foreign company (who never gave it back). Since the Orsted debacle, the wind is not blowing in a better direction. NJ Spotlight asked this in a recent headline:

And things didn’t get any better Look at this quote after Atlantic Shores pulled out too:

So to recap:

• One company took the taxpayer money and ran.
• Another company said it’s not commercially viable.
• And lets not forget that the NJBPU also cancelled all further bidding solicitations on building offshore wind.

Yet despite all of these developments that present more challenges, NJ is still trying to make wind happen. Even as rates rise and energy usage soars too, there have been no formal adjustments to the state energy plans (at least not that they’ve shared with the public.) It’s a case study in poor future planning.

This storm has been brewing for 8 years and all we see are talking points while the clean energy fund itself continues to be raided. That shows you where the priorities really are. So tell us again about how this is someone else’s fault and how playing the blame game is actually a solution that will help with the problem.