New Jersey is set to get its first offshore wind farm. Atlantic City plans to have the 1,100-megawatt (MW) farm operational by 2024, according to an article in NJ Spotlight News.

The Ocean Wind farm will include up to 99 Haliade-X offshore wind turbines, a prototype developed by GE, Boston. Each turbine can generate enough electricity to power 16,000 homes, according to GE’s website. It is one of several wind farms being developed in the United States by Danish company Ørsted.

The state’s renewable energy goal is achieving 100% clean energy by 2050, according to a June 2020 press releasefrom Governor Phil Murphy. “Offshore wind is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to not only protect our environment but also greatly expand our state economy in a way that has immediate impacts and paves the way for long-term growth,” he said.

In addition, New Jersey plans to create a wind port, which will serve as a hub for offshore wind projects along the East Coast.

“The New Jersey Wind Port will create thousands of high-quality jobs,” among other benefits, Gov. Murphy said in the press release. “This is a vital step forward in achieving our goal of reaching 7,500 megawatts of offshore wind power by 2035 and 100% clean energy by 2050.”

“In the face of climate risks like our state’s rapidly rising sea levels, projects like this demonstrate how New Jersey can both adapt to climate change and fight its impacts by building resilient infrastructure that also supports the very industries that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and diminish further global warming,” said New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection commissioner Catherine R. McCabe.

Global offshore wind capacity is expected to increase 15-fold by 2040, according to a 2019 press release from the International Energy Agency (IEA), Paris. The total investment in offshore wind may surpass $1 trillion by 2040, according to IEA.

The Haliade-X turbines are currently in use in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Maryland plans to use them for its 120-MW Skipjack wind farm, aiming to be operational by 2023. In the UK, the 3,600-MW Dogger Bank project also plans to use the turbine. Another type of GE turbine was also used in America’s first offshore wind farm—the 30-MW Block Island Wind Farm, commissioned in 2016.

The Haliade-X technology may dramatically reduce the levelized cost of energy, according to GE’s website. The turbines are currently the biggest and most powerful on the market. With 351-foot blades, they tower 853 feet above the ocean. GE offers the turbines with capacities of 12, 13 and 14 MW, with a 220-meter rotor. It says Haliade-X are less sensitive to wind speed variations and can capture more annual energy production than other offshore wind turbines.

One Haliade-X 12-MW turbine can generate up to 67 gigawatt hours (GWh) of gross annual energy production, while a 14-MW turbine can generate up to 74 GWh. This provides enough energy to save up to 42,000 metric tons (12 MW) and 52,000 metric tons (14 MW) of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of emissions from 9,000 and 11,000 vehicles, respectively, according to GE.

Over the next four years, GE will be testing the prototype to validate its power curve, loads, grid performance and reliability.