By MADDY VITALE
An offshore wind farm may be built at the shore as early as 2024. But before giant turbines can be put in the water, the developer needs a transmission line to make the entire project happen.
Orsted, the Danish energy company overseeing the wind farm project called Ocean Wind, plans to run a transmission line under the seabed and bring the electricity onshore through the cable at the beach lots of 35th Street in Ocean City.
But Ocean City has not agreed.
Strong opposition to the project has come from city officials to other stakeholders.
The wind farm would stretch from Atlantic City to Stone Harbor 15 miles offshore, passing by Ocean City in the process.
Opponents say the project could hurt tourism, real estate values, migratory birds and marine life, the fishing industry and create a visual blight when. On a clear day, the 98 or 99 giant turbines that are planned could be visible from the shore.
On Monday, Oct. 3 at 6 p.m. at the Flanders Hotel at 11th Street and the Boardwalk in Ocean City, residents and other stakeholders are invited to a public hearing on the transmission line.
The hearing is on the Green Acres application to utilize the 0.647-acre portion of Ocean City-owned beach, explained Liz Thomas, of Thomas/Boyd Communications on behalf of Ocean Wind.
Thomas emphasized that the meeting will be for the purpose of public comment only. It will not be in a Q&A format.
“Participants may make public comment, but it is not a Q&A. Ocean Wind will give a presentation at the beginning of the hearing and then open it up for public comment,” Thomas said.
She noted that, “this is one of many meetings leading up to final state and federal approvals to build the offshore wind farm.”
Former Ocean City Councilman Mike DeVlieger has been an ardent opponent of the windfarm since the first meetings in 2019.
He addressed City Council on Sept. 8 about the upcoming hearing.
While DeVlieger and others in town are against the project for many reasons, there are others who have said in meetings that a wind farm would mean clean, renewable energy and create jobs.
The wind farm is currently in the planning and permitting phase and is scheduled for completion by 2024. Orsted plans to build an 1,100-megawatt project that would create thousands of construction jobs and power over 500,000 homes.
DeVlieger urged the community to attend the hearing on Oct. 3 to speak their minds and listen to what the representatives of the wind farm developer have to say.
“I really think that the folks who have had their head in the sand about this topic really need to come out. The topic is focused on giving these folks access to our preserved land to run their power lines,” DeVlieger said. “This is big government shoveling this down our throats and this is critical for them.”
He emphasized the negative impacts the wind farm could have on the resort.
“It will negatively affect our wildlife, view, our taxes, our property values – all of our quality of life,” he said. “For 25 years, we could be looking at an industrial park in the ocean in our beautifully preserved land now if we don’t stand up. This should be the biggest public meeting we have had in decades because this is a very serious matter.”
On Feb. 2, Ocean Wind filed a petition with the BPU for a right-of-way easement to acquire the parcel of parkland near 35th Street. The company has hopes to put in the transmission line to run through Ocean City and connect the offshore wind turbines to a substation next to the decommissioned B.L. England Generating Station in Upper Township.
Orsted and Ocean City officials have been negotiating on and off for the past three years over the wind farm, but have been unable to reach a settlement.
