Newsroom & Public Notices

August 14, 2025

Good morning, Chairman Smith, Chairman Kennedy, and members of the Senate Energy and Environment and the Assembly Environment, Natural Resources, and Solid Waste Committees. Thank you for the invitation to speak on New Jersey’s energy mix and NJBPU’s longstanding efforts to increase energy capacity and reduce emissions and discuss the new technologies that can play a role in New Jersey’s energy mix in the medium and long-term.

My remarks today will cover the following in this order:

• The Energy Landscape
• Primary Clean Energy Efforts
• New Opportunities
• Closing Thoughts

The Energy Landscape

The increased cost of energy is not unique to New Jersey, but is affecting the country as a whole. According to PJM, New Jersey’s regional transmission operator, 2025 Long-Term Load Forecast, electricity demand within the region is expected to significantly increase, with a projected growth of over 40% within the next 14 years, translating to an additional 32 gigawatts (GW) of demand by 2030 compared to the peak load in 2024. This forecast applies across the full PJM region of 13 States and the District of Columbia. And this forecast, supported by PJM’s own data, has changed drastically from just 2 years ago.

What’s driving the rapid rise in energy demand in the PJM region, and the country? Data centers and the development of AI. In fact, PJM notes that 30 of the 32 GW of anticipated new load in the PJM region by 2030 is driven by data centers. Virginia, once an energy exporter, is now a major energy importer. They also happen to have the greatest number of data centers in the world. It’s not decarbonization policies or clean energy development. Data centers are critical for national security, key to technological advancement, and a catalyst for economic development. However these facilities are gigantic energy users, and this increase in demand is driving up costs throughout PJM and the nation. And yes, even major energy exporting states like Pennsylvania and Ohio are seeing cost increases on par with NJ, an energy importing state – which we’ve been for the better part of three decades. Not for the last 7 years, as some have suggested. Being an energy-importing state is not a bad thing. It’s why we have regional transmission operators. But let’s get the facts straight about why and when.

So while we work at the state, regional, and federal levels on cost allocation and how to appropriately attribute costs to protect residential ratepayers from the impacts of data center growth, we have also been working steadfastly over the last seven years to get more electricity on the grid and reduce peak demand – and there have been numerous successes.

NJBPU Clean Energy Efforts

First and foremost, solar. The fastest and cheapest source of new generation to get on the grid. Solar paired with storage is one of the immediate solutions to reducing the supply and demand imbalance we are all experiencing. Late last year, NJ achieved 5 GW of installed distribution-level solar capacity, more than doubling its solar energy output since 2017. To put 5 GW in context, that’s, on average, enough power to serve approximately 750,000 New Jersey households. But that’s not the whole story.

We have nearly a gigawatt of solar in the pipeline – approved projects working to get built, with most coming online in the next 18 to 24 or so months. Not only is this growth nearly exponential, but we’re building it at half the price. Since the solar incentive transition, we’ve reduced RECS by 50% - saving ratepayers money and in the case of our competitive program for very large projects, proving that solar can be developed competitively. In the last CSI solicitation, the Board awarded over 310 MW of solar capacity and 80 MWh of storage, together capable of generating enough electricity to power 42,000 homes annually. Furthermore, the Community Solar Energy Program has provided discounts of 15% or more on electricity bills for over 28,000 subscribers and has delivered over $7 million in net bill savings. Clean energy and affordability can go hand in hand - clean energy deployed at scale and quickly will help reduce costs. And clean energy is capacity. In 2024 alone, 93% of new electricity capacity added in the United States came from clean energy sources, specifically solar, wind, and battery storage.

Onto storage. A major key to improving the reliability factor of distributed energy resources like solar, expanding grid capacity, and building a more resilient grid – we are on our way to achieving New Jersey’s 2030, two-gigawatt storage goal. The Board released and opened the application period for Phase 1 of the Garden State Energy Storage Program designed to significantly expand the amount of grid-scale energy storage capacity. I’m excited to see the results from the application period.

In addition to bringing new resources online, we have reduced demand through the NJBPU’s Triennium energy efficiency programs, the first cycle reduced customers’ utility bills by $600 million and these savings will continue to grow. It also resulted in 1.4 million metric tons of annual greenhouse gas emission reductions, which is equivalent to approximately 300,000 cars removed from the road per year, and 545 MW of load reduction – that is proof that smart investments in energy efficiency pay off. Not only do these investments save money in the long run for those who take advantage of the programs, energy efficiency and demand response also put considerable downward pressure on peak demand, helping save all ratepayers money in avoided capacity costs. In October 2024, the Board approved the second stage in the Triennium program, slated to run from January 2025 to June 2027, which is anticipated to reduce annual electricity usage by 2.3 million MWh, reduce annual natural gas usage by 8.9 million MMBtu, and reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by 1.5 million metric tons. We are now planning for the third phase of the Triennium series.

Between solar and energy efficiency alone, these energy resources have helped New Jersey avoid a real change in the state’s supply and demand balance despite the loss of some generation over the last several years, which I will touch upon later.

Say what you want about offshore wind, the NJBPU’s awarded 7,500 MW of offshore wind generation, half of which was slated to arrive before 2029, which would have dramatically helped to close the supply and demand gap within the PJM region. For instance, the capacity offer difference between the July 2025 auction clearing at the price cap or the floor was only around 1,500 MW of accredited capacity. In a resource constrained environment, reliable offshore wind projects could save PJM and New Jersey ratepayers billions of dollars. The Trump Administration’s actions are hindering our ability to bring new clean energy resources online, Fortunately, the Board has taken an all of the above approach to the clean energy generation mix, and while the halt of offshore wind is devastating to New Jersey’s mid-term solution in bridging the gap of the recent increase in energy demand across the PJM region, we have been evaluating the potential for other technologies such as geothermal, advanced reactors, and waves and tidal technology.

New Opportunities – Geothermal, Waves and Tides, and Advanced Nuclear

First, the NJBPU contracted with Rutgers University Center for Urban Policy Research to develop a study on the benefits and challenges, feasibility, and recommendations to expand large-scale geothermal heating and cooling systems, housed within New Jersey facilities. This study will inform a New Jersey Board of Public Utilities report that satisfies the requirements of the law (P.L. 2023, c.328), which directs the Board to deliver on the feasibility, marketability, and costs of implementing large-scale geothermal heat pump systems in the State by January 15, 2026.

As part of the Triennium 2 process that launched in January 2025, PSE&G and NJNG are conducting feasibility studies on thermal energy networks that can serve heating and cooling loads for multiple customers within their territories. The studies will identify potential sites and perform preliminary engineering for thermal energy networks by Q3 of 2027.

In September 2023, the NJBPU and the NJDEP, with support from the New Jersey Corporation for Advanced Technology (“NJCAT”), entered into an MOU to develop a GIS siting tool to provide guidance as to the viability of project sites and create an educational curriculum to assist in the training of workforce and increase awareness of geothermal systems. The NJBPU has been working closely with the NJDEP to align this work with the two other ongoing efforts and ensure potential demonstrations explore various geothermal project types. This engagement is expected to continue through early 2026.

In 2023, the NJBPU entered an MOU with Rutgers University to conduct a feasibility study of the State’s potential wave and tidal energy generation to determine if wave and tidal energy can be generated at an acceptable cost to consumers, in sufficient amounts, and at appropriate locations to make a meaningful contribution to the State’s energy needs. The study will be complete by the end of the summer, and we look forward to Rutgers’ analysis and recommendations to act on this form of generation. In May of 2025, the NJBPU released a Request for Information (“RFI”) to explore the role and opportunity to develop new nuclear energy resources in New Jersey. The RFI sought stakeholder input on a variety of crucial topics including but not limited to what role nuclear will play in helping the State meet its clean energy goals, siting and safety challenges, and determining what financing mechanisms and permitting reforms would be needed to build new advanced reactors. Staff have been reviewing the comments to determine their recommendations on next steps to further study these key issues.

Closing Thoughts

But lastly, to address a few statements that have been circulating:

1. New Jersey is a nuclear state, and under the leadership of Governor Murphy, we’ve invested nearly $2 billion in the nuclear plants in South Jersey to keep them running and generating clean electricity. This Governor did not shut down Oyster Creek. The decision to close that plant was spurred by economic and infrastructure issues during the previous administration. As further proof of the Murphy Administration’s support for nuclear, PSEG Nuclear is finalizing an uprate of hundreds of megawatts at their existing plants, which will be able to bid into the upcoming PJM BRA auction in December.
   
   
2. We’ve heard a lot of input about new and existing natural gas resources. Just as with Oyster Creek, many of the decisions to offline fossil fuel plants were made prior to this Administration. And I have not heard from a single natural gas generator about their interest in building new plants at the current capacity prices. Best-case scenario still requires at least five years of development and the right market conditions -- anyone suggesting a new plant can be built within a shorter timeline is not being realistic. A new fossil fuel plant, with the current supply chain issues, would realistically take 7+ years to build and require capacity market prices of at least $600 per MW-day at PJM. Gas generation development on that timeline and price cannot be solely relied upon to solve our supply needs. We have to prioritize new clean generation, but we’ve always acknowledged that a diverse portfolio of resources has a role to play in the right resource mix for New Jersey.
   
   
3. Offshore wind is a mature technology and despite headwinds at the federal level, New Jersey still has a massive resource ready to generate electricity far off our coast. Eliminating the potential of offshore wind from consideration has the same implications as eliminating other sources of new generation – rising costs.
   
   
4. PJM’s queue is still broken and while they’ve cleared some capacity in the last year, there are still thousands of clean energy projects waiting years to get through red tape.

In closing, it’s important to recognize that all new power generation—whether clean or fossil, solar or nuclear, wind or storage—comes at a cost and requires ratepayer support. Discussions about re-regulation or restructuring are complex and should not be taken lightly. Allowing utilities to ratebase generation means customers would bear the cost of building and operating new power plants when capacity prices are already high. While there can be debate about policy choices, transparency is essential. There are no “magic bullets” that will solve the capacity crunch, and we should continue to be thoughtful and open-minded about the solutions, and honest about the hard work ahead of all of us.

If you have any questions, please contact Sophia Dolashewich, Director of Legislative Affairs, at sophia.dolashewich@bpu.nj.gov.