Ørsted, the company behind the Ocean Wind 1 project, filed a lawsuit in Superior Court against Ocean City about the placement of onshore power cables. The company has state approval for the work, despite opposition from local leaders in Ocean City. The town is appealing the approval to lay power lines for the project about 50 feet below the ocean bed and beach under the city’s streets for seven miles up to a shuttered power plant in Upper Township, Cape May County. That lawsuit, filed in November, is part of the city’s overall opposition to a 2021 state law giving approved wind energy projects the authority to take public land needed for any land-based construction.
In response, Ørsted is now seeking a separate court order so it can start the preliminary engineering work on about an acre of land in the city. Ørsted argues work won’t happen during the summer tourist season and the company will foot the bill to resurface affected streets.
