Clear skies for offshore wind turbines off Atlantic City shore

Offshore wind developer Fishermen's Energy now has permission to build six offshore wind turbines a few miles off the coast of Atlantic City, the company said, announcing it won its final federal permit.

Fishermen's Energy, a coalition of fishermen seeking to supply alternative energy, said the project got a Clean Water Act permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

That follows several important permits the project got last year from the state Department of Environmental Protection after a public comment process.

The demonstration-scale wind farm would be built just 2.8 miles from the Atlantic City boardwalk, far closer to the shore than other proposals. Its turbines could produce up to 25 megawatts, capable of powering about 10,000 homes.

It's not the only company hoping to build: last year federal officials announced plans to fast-track offshore wind, and eleven companies filed to stake a claim and construct clusters of huge turbines in federal waters 12 miles off the coast of New Jersey.

Those much larger proposals include a farm off the coast of Avalon proposed by Garden State Offshore Energy and a project by Bluewater Wind off the coast of Cape May.

Fishermen's Energy is the first developer to get so far through the permitting process. Once the project gets financing lined up, it can move forward.

That depends in part on a judgment by the Board of Public Utilities about whether the company can get offshore wind incentives it has applied for.

Fishermen's filed a revised application for those incentives earlier this summer, according to spokeswoman Rhonda Jackson, who called financing the "next major key step" for the project.