I’m telling you – I knew my favoritest wind villains were due to announce results last night, but I didn’t dare hope for this.

Tears in my eyes when I read the tweet.

Orsted just announced its pulling the plug on two New Jersey offshore wind projects, Ocean Wind 1 and Ocean Wind 2. They would have had ~2,200 MW of capacity, cites macroeconomic factors and a “vessel delay” pic.twitter.com/8ZzVY0SdyX

— Matthew Zeitlin (@MattZeitlin) November 1, 2023

Stick a fork in the projects off the Jersey Shore – they are done.

Global offshore wind developer Orsted said Tuesday night that it is pulling out of both of its projects scheduled to be built off the coast of New Jersey, a move that enraged Gov. Phil Murphy and could be a big blow to the state’s renewable energy ambitions.

The Danish company made the announcement after a decision by its board of directors. Both the Ocean Wind 1 and 2 projects, which would have had the capacity to produce 2.2 gigawatts of renewable energy, will be scrapped.

“Macroeconomic factors have changed dramatically over a short period of time, with high inflation, rising interest rates, and supply chain bottlenecks impacting our long-term capital investments,” said David Hardy, Group Executive Vice President and CEO Americas at Orsted.

“As a result, we have no choice but to cease development of Ocean Wind 1 and Ocean Wind 2.”

Rodentially repellent Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey balled his clawed paws into tiny fists, and shook them furiously at the Heavens. Then he took to venting his spleen on his official FaceBook page.

“It’s OUTRAGEOUS! You’ll pay, I swear it!” he ineffectually squeaked, grateful for a keyboard as the flying vermin spittle would have blotched regular ink.

“WAAH!”

The funny thing is, not a soul in the comments on his post has tissues out weeping in concert with him over the lost wind farms. The New Jersey residents who have bothered to scribe a thought are damn near universally shouting “HUZZAH!!” with a few berating their gov for extra good measure. He’s taking a thumping – I can’t find one sympathetic word.

Jerseyites were put off by the Danish wind giant’s arrogance almost from the very beginning, no matter where they stood on Global Warming and renewables. And it didn’t matter how much money or job promises the feds or Murphy shoveled at communities as time went on – attitudes and resentment against the projects became damn near implacable.

You can tell these Philly Inquirer reporters are bummed by the cancelations. That the anti-wind-farm groups are described as “often aligned with Republicans” is the dead give-away reporters determined knuckle-dragging right-wing Luddites have once again ruined a Save-the-Earth plan while “offering no scientific evidence.”

…Newly formed groups coalesced against wind, with some backed by fossil fuel interests, aiming to sway public opinion against the farms. The groups, often aligned with Republicans, managed to convince much of the public that offshore wind survey vessels were killing and stranding whales — despite offering no scientific evidence. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said most whale deaths are attributed to vessel strikes and fishing gear entanglement.

“The Brigantine community is happy to see Orsted pull out of New Jersey,” Brigantine Mayor Vince Sera said. “These ocean wind projects are bad for the environment, bad for our economy, and have no positive impact on climate change or global warming.”

Orsted has been meeting for years with stakeholders, including community groups and commercial and recreational fishing operations to assuage their fears. The state under Murphy’s guidance has sunk $1 billion in building the New Jersey Wind Port in Salem County and support for a monopile facility built by EEW at the Paulsboro Marine Terminal in Gloucester County. Monopiles serve as the foundations for turbines.

State officials said offshore wind would bring thousands of jobs.

Yet, despite the assertion of the overwhelming effectiveness of ee-ville Republican persuasive powers in a blue Democratic state (YGTBFKM), even an environmental activist tells the same, hound dog sad reporters that Ørsted brought their own misery on themselves.

…“They didn’t listen to the public and did not understand our needs or politics,” Tittel said. “They thought that the would get a blank check. Their arrogance is why these projects failed.”

State Sen. Vince Polistina (R., Atlantic), who has made opposition to offshore wind a campaign issue, said: “I want to applaud the concern by so many people in Atlantic County who had questions about the costs of the project, the impact on utility rates, and how the work was affecting our marine environment.”

Ørsted stands to lose the $100M bond it posted that it would be in construction on Ocean Wind 1 by 2025. It’s also looking at possible defaults in another $300M in performance guarantees on the same projects. That’s a lot of cha-ching to eat.

Shares in the company dropped 22% overnight to a 6 year low on the news, and a big number for what’s called “impairments.” The wind industry – Ørsted in particular in this case – is bleeding cash, and they have to stanch the bleeding somehow, even if some blood still flows doing it.

…Orsted, the world’s largest offshore wind developer, said it would stop developing its 2,248-megawatt (MW) Ocean Wind 1 and 2 projects in New Jersey. Related impairments could amount to as much as 39.4 billion Danish crowns ($5.58 billion).

The stock plunged as much as 22% to a six year low of 265 crowns.

The offshore wind industry has found itself in a perfect storm of rising inflation, interest rate hikes and supply chain delays.

This has cast doubt on plans by U.S. President Joe Biden and several states to use offshore wind to replace fossil fuels in energy production and reduce carbon emissions.

On Tuesday, energy major BP (BP.L) booked a third-quarter writedown of $540 million on wind projects after officials in New York state rejected a request for better terms to reflect what BP called “inflationary pressures and permitting delays”.

Norway’s Equinor (EQNR.OL), BP’s partner on those New York offshore wind developments, booked a $300 million impairment on the projects on Friday.

I wrote about the New York projects getting the door slammed on their requested rate increases of up to 55%. The New York Public Service Commission somehow found the intestinal fortitude not to bend over to the intense renewable lobby pressure nor acquiesce to wind farm industry blackmail. They said “No,” and it was the death knell for those projects.

I’m guessing Ørsted saw the writing on the wall in NJ, too. For all the governor’s frenzied support as well as the Biden administration’s helping cooking marine mammal cause-of-death books, statewide enthusiasm for this massive boondoggle leached away by the hour, even as vocal and active ranks of the opposition grew ever louder, stronger, better organized, and more politically savvy.

A group called “Save the East Coast” even began vetting candidates for NJ legislature seats based on their positions on off-shore wind farms, and making endorsements. That’s taking a page right out of established environmental groups’ playbooks. The new #rulez are always a shock to the opposition when WE learn to play by them.

Candidates endorsed by S.T.E.C. have been thoroughly vetted in accordance with our high standards and integrity towards the environment, community, and their civic minded approach towards leadership. All candidates oppose offshore wind, the industrialization of the ocean, and it’s associated degradation to nature and society.

So this is a big deal and a good day, but it’s not the end.

Ørsted still has projects in the works. For instance, there’s Skipjack 1 and 2 planned for smack in the middle of the Carl Shuster Jr Horseshoe Crab Reserve of Ocean City, MD. And how will the company’s withdrawal affect other wind farms scheduled for construction, like those in progress by Atlantic Shores Wind off the Jersey coast, who, by the by, were also begging for government handouts this summer?

I am hopeful what Ørsted’s CEO said about Ocean Wind 1…

…The company said it had invested significantly at an early stage in Ocean Wind 1, the most advanced of the two projects.

“It is without a doubt proven that this was the wrong decision,” Chief Executive Mads Nipper told journalists.

…holds true for every single project they have left on the drawing board or already started fastening into the ocean bottom.

They are terribly wrong decisions and need to be stopped, STAT.

No rest for us ’til they come to that realization, be they the government pushing it or the companies living large on it.

But make no mistake – this IS a GOOD day.