Under phil murphy's clean energy plan, new jersey can expect at least 4,000 wind turbines offshore

TOMS RIVER, NJ – Governor Phil Murphy initially told New Jersey he wants to increase offshore wind energy production to get 7,500 megawatts of usage by 2035. Last week, when he announced a more aggressive clean energy that even calls for banning gas-powered cars, Murphy bumped that goal up to 11,000 megawatts.

To date, the administration has already approved 3,758 megawatts of wind turbines at the Jersey Shore.

Putting aside the current whale beaching debate, 11,000 megawatts of energy-producing windmills is a massive project.

The project would make New Jersey’s offshore wind farm the largest in the entire world. Currently, the largest onshore windfarm in the world is in China, the Gansu Wind Farm at 7,965 megawatts.

When it comes to offshore wind farms, the Hornsea 2, which operates 55 miles off the coast of Yorkshire, U.K. is the largest. It is just 1,218 megawatts.

Murphy’s project will dwarf that by over ten times, placing wind turbines as far as the eye can see at the Jersey Shore.

But how many wind turbines does it take to produce 11,000 megawatts of energy?

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, a single wind turbine produces around 2.75 megawatts of electricity.

Operating at 42%, a single wind turbine can power 940 homes.

Phil Murphy’s current proposal calls for at least 4,000 wind turbines off the coast of the Jersey Shore. With 3.629 million homes in New Jersey most of those wind turbines will go toward powering homes. That leaves a huge deficit in Murphy’s 100% clean energy plan by 2035, because every business, office building, public facility and public utilities such as street lights will still need a clean energy source.

Murphy has always used fuzzy math, but in order to achieve 100% clean energy production in New Jersey, he’s going to need a lot more than 4,000 turbines.

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