Analysis of the wind resource off New Jersey for offshore wind energy development

The state of New Jersey has the goal of producing 23% of its energy from renewable sources by 2021. Offshore wind is envisioned as being part of that renewable portfolio. To meet this goal New Jersey passed the nation´s first offshore wind renewable energy standard which requires that at least 1,100 megawatts (MW) by 2021. Currently NJ has 0 MW of offshore wind energy. In order to reduce the risk associated with installing these turbines, the Rutgers University Coastal Ocean Observation Laboratory has undertaken a two year study of the ocean winds and currents to provide insight to the wind farm developers to the best locations for siting the wind turbines. A 13 MHz HF radar network was installed to measure the surface currents every 2 km out to a range of 60 km from the coast. These surface current measurements were validated against surface wind measurements from available meteorological stations. The surface currents will then be used to validate the surface winds from a weather model that has been created for this program.