The Environment Minster has said he is “determined” that politicians will have agreed on “detailed” proposals for an offshore wind farm before the next election.
Speaking at a recent Chamber of Commerce lunch event, Deputy Steve Luce revealed that experts are currently evaluating connection options for the proposed offshore wind farm – including links to power grids in France, Jersey, or the UK.
In April, the States Assembly approved a proposition to further investigate the opportunity to develop a wind farm of up to one gigawatt in generating capacity in the south-west of Jersey’s territorial waters.
The decision followed a public consultation, which ran from November 2023 to February 2024.
Deputy Luce said: “Last year, I went to the States Assembly, and I said, in principle, I would like you to support the potential wind power possibilities in Jersey’s waters; here’s an area of seabed that we’d like to use; here’s an approximate amount of power we’d like to produce.”
The Minister explained his team is now working on detailed proposals that will specify the wind farm’s location, number of turbines, and how it will connect to the power grid.
“I will come back to the Assembly before the end of this year with the detail, and I’m very hopeful,” he said.
“I’m determined for the next election that the States Assembly will have made a decision about having a wind farm, where it is, how many turbines it will be, where it will be plugged into, how it will work.”
Deputy Luce added that securing final approval before the 2026 election would allow the next government to “move forward with selecting partners” before beginning construction.