Qualla: Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind South

Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind South: Introduction

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit BOEM, Public domain. Stand on the boardwalk at Brigantine on a clear day and look east, just over the horizon, and you cannot see them. That is the point. The Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind South project would place up to two hundred wind turbines roughly 7.56 nautical miles off the New Jersey coast - far enough that, depending on weather and atmospheric refraction, the blade tips would be barely visible from the beach. Each turbine would stand 919 feet tall to the tip - taller than the Washington Monument - on a 175-meter-tall hub turning a 379-foot blade through a 280-meter-diameter rotor. Together the turbines would generate up to 2,800 megawatts, enough to power approximately one million homes. None of them were ever built. The project was formally cancelled in June 2025, after federal politics, fishing-industry opposition, and a billion-dollar corporate retreat made it unviable.

Image: BOEM | Public domain

Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind South: Lease OCS-A 0499

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit BOEM, Public domain. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management began leasing federal waters off the New Jersey coast for offshore wind development in 2011. The original tract, designated OCS-A 0499, sat about eight nautical miles offshore in waters between Atlantic City and Barnegat Light, in a stretch o...

Image: BOEM | Public domain

Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind South: The Save the Whales Banners

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Opposition to the project from local communities on the New Jersey coast has been sustained and well-organized. The most visible group, Save Long Beach Island, gained national attention through 2023 and 2024 by linking the project to a series of unusual whale deaths along the mid...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind South: The Trump Order

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. On January 20, 2025, on his first day in his second term, President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum titled Temporary Withdrawal of All Areas on the Outer Continental Shelf from Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of the Federal Government's Leasing and Permitting Pract...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind South: Shell Walks

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. On January 30, 2025, Shell announced it was withdrawing from the Atlantic Shores joint venture, the same week the Trump order was signed. CFO Sinead Gorman cited the project's misalignment with Shell's capabilities and expected returns. Shell took a $996 million impairment charge...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind South: Cancelled

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. In June 2025, EDF Renewables submitted a petition to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities asking to terminate Atlantic Shores South's offshore renewable energy credits and be released from all project obligations. The company cited the Trump administration's permitting freeze...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain