Dubbed Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, the joint venture between EDF Renewables North America and Shell New Energies US has been created to develop an offshore wind farm off the coast of Atlantic City, N.J. that partners say has the potential to produce some 2,500MW of emissions-free, electrical power -- enough for nearly one million average homes.

The announcement comes despite the New Jersey Board of Utilities recently rejecting EDF Renewables-backed Nautilus Offshore Wind LLC's proposed plan to build a pilot-scale, offshore wind power farm off Atlantic City's coast for the third time.

Nautilus intended to develop the 25MW project in waters 2.8 miles off the Atlantic City coast. The board decided the cost of developing the project, which would have been passed on to ratepayers in order to demonstrate it would produce a net economic benefit to them and the state, was too high, according to a news report.

If at first you don't succeed...



EDF Renewables has 2,800MW of offshore wind generation capacity in development or operation in Europe. Now the company is setting its sights on developing the U.S.' vast, untapped offshore wind power potential.

Shell has never committed much to developing renewable energy resources, as is the case for all the major oil & gas multinationals, and it has displayed an on-again, off-again attitude towards the sector.

That seems to be shifting towards the on-again mode as offshore wind power costs have dropped sharply in recent years, and the international drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by transitioning away from fossil fuels-based and nuclear power generation towards decentralized systems that relay predominantly on a mix of distributed, renewable energy resources, smart grid, battery-based and other digitally networked energy storage technologies.

In addition, Shell and other oil & gas multinationals are uniquely capable and positioned to carry out sophisticated, large-scale, offshore energy resources development projects. And Shell has acquired experience in the wind power sector.

Shell entered the on-shore wind power market in 2001, management points out. It has interests in five operating, on-shore wind farms in North America, and an operational, offshore wind farm in Europe.

Shell is also a member of the Blauwind consortium that intends to build and operate the 731.5MW Borssele 3 and 4 offshore wind farms in a Netherlands' North Sea territory. The Blauwind consortium set what was at the time a new, record-low price for offshore wind energy in Dec. 2016 -- € 54.5/MWh (USD62.4/MWh) through the first 15 years of operation. Project partners earlier this year said construction would begin in 2019's fourth quarter and commercial production early in 2021.