Invenergy and energyRE have shelved the 2.4 gigawatt Leading Light Wind project off New Jersey after telling state regulators they cannot proceed under the terms of their offshore renewable energy certificate, or OREC, award.
In a notice to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU), the developers said they will not file the binding compliance documents required by the Board’s January 2024 order. That move stops the project from advancing under the OREC contract awarded in New Jersey’s third offshore wind solicitation, which was meant to support the state’s 11 GW by 2040 offshore wind goal
The project, sited about 40 miles off Long Beach Island, was marketed as large enough to power about one million homes.
WHY THE DEVELOPERS WALKED AWAY
The developers say the 2024 OREC price and conditions no longer match the cost and risk of building the project. Since approval, Leading Light has struggled to lock in turbines. The team first targeted a large GE Vernova model that was later dropped, then found a Vestas alternative unsuitable for the site, before Siemens Gamesa, the remaining major supplier, quoted higher prices that broke the project’s cost assumptions, as detailed in earlier AP reporting.
Those problems led the BPU to grant a stay that paused compliance obligations. But supply-chain tightness, vendor delays and shifting regulatory requirements kept pushing costs up. In their latest filing, the developers say they cannot move forward under the original OREC terms without taking on unacceptable risk.
Across the sector, analyses point to offshore wind projects hit by inflation, higher interest rates, and constrained manufacturing capacity, with several U.S. contracts already cancelled or renegotiated on economic grounds.
IMPACT ON INVENERGY AND ENERGYRE
Cancelling Leading Light removes a potential revenue stream backed by a state contract and strands early spending on leases, site studies, and engineering. Stepping away also caps further losses. Rather than build under a contract they now view as uneconomic, the companies are keeping control of the federal lease while limiting exposure to today’s prices. They say the lease area can still deliver value to New Jersey if market conditions improve, according to Invenergy’s filings reported by OffshoreWind.biz.
The collapse of Leading Light deepens a hole in New Jersey’s offshore pipeline. The BPU cancelled its fourth offshore wind solicitation in early 2025 amid federal reviews and Shell’s exit from the Atlantic Shores venture, and the Murphy administration has signalled an end to new state financial support for offshore projects.
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