New Jersey this week opened a new front in its battle to be a leader in renewable energy generation. Gov. Jon Corzine (D) announced an ambitious goal to triple the amount of wind power the state plans to use by 2020 to 3,000 Megawatts, or about 13 percent of the state’s total electricity. The wind-power goal is part of the effort to get utilities in the state to generate 20 percent of their electricity from renewables by 2020, as required by a state law passed in 2006. Last week, New Jersey announced it had chosen Garden State Offshore Energy to build its first offshore wind farm, a $1 billion, 345 MW project some 20 miles off the state’s southern coast that aims to crank out enough clean energy by 2013 to power about 125,000 homes. “We want to create this generation’s race to the moon, but this time, a race to the sea, to harness this potential wind source off of our coasts, and bring economic development, environmental benefits, and new, green jobs to the Garden State,” Corzine said.
