The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) has pulled the 2021 offshore wind renewable energy certificate order for the Atlantic Shores project, ending the project’s status as a qualified offshore wind project.

The decision came after Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, a joint venture between Shell New Energies and EDF Renewables, filed a request to cancel its wind project off the coast of Atlantic City.

The project had already received federal approval of its construction and operations plan in October 2024, completion of offshore surveys, securing operations and maintenance facilities, and signing multiple supply and interconnection agreements.

Regardless, the company filed the request in early June, citing the Trump administration’s opposition to wind energy and the escalated cost for developing offshore wind projects as its reasons, with the Presidential Wind Memorandum being the largest stumbling block.

This was compounded by Shell deciding to withdraw from the project in February and taking a $996m impairment associated with Atlantic Shores. EDF Renewables booked a $980m impairment for the project soon after.

To make matters worse, the Trump administration withdrew an air quality permit for the project in March.

The New Jersey authorities agreed with the company that the current conditions made the project unviable and did not oppose terminating the offshore wind renewable energy certificate.

The BPU stated that all these different factors would lead to the project not being completed on schedule, and that vacating the certificate was in the best interest of the public. The Board also stated that Atlantic Shores had no further obligations.

Atlantic Shores was supposed to be developed in two phases. The first was a 1,510MW project with around $1.9bn in economic benefits to New Jersey. Combined with the second project, the 197 offshore wind turbines would have produced enough clean energy to power more than 1m New Jersey homes and would have a capacity of 2.8GW.