in our Spotlight on Business Report offshore wind enthusiasts know nothing worth having comes easy and they're invoking that Mantra as they continue the effort to bring the industry here the Sweeney Center at Rowan University today held its third offshore wind energy conference and it included the three companies recently selected to build wind farms that'll Supply power to the Garden State Ted Goldberg has the details question is do we want a bronze medal or gold medal for damn sure I want the gold medal and I think you all do too despite protests and setbacks leaders spoke confidently about the future of offshore wind energy at Rowan University today I'm going to try and get through this whole talk without using a certain Danish word that has a strike through one of the vowels New Jersey Economic Development Authority president Tim Sullivan might be talking about orad the Danish power company that gave Governor Murphy a Halloween Surprise by bailing on its plans for two offshore wind projects the state continued with a fourth round of solicitations and a few weeks ago the Board of Public Utilities approved two new projects which they say could power around two million homes a lot of folks would have melted In the Heat of what was happening in the fall or in this industry um and this Governor has stood tall and strong and if not if anything taller and stronger since then this is New Jersey we don't shy away from a challenge we hit it headon and I think you can all agree that we're on the right track moving Full Throttle to make New Jersey a national leader in the offshore wind industry BPU president Christine Guhl-Sadovy repeated what New Jersey leaders have said for years if the state does not pursue offshore wind there will be consequences there is a cost to doing nothing climate change impacts related to infrastructure stronger storms you know Health impacts related to air pollution Governor Murphy's Administration is about New Jersey doing our part to mitigate climate impacts while safeguarding rate payers and advancing the clean energy economy there are probably people in the world who still think offshore wind is some like liberal pipe dream this ain't one of them this is an industry that is being invested in by some of the most sophisticated and well- capitalized companies in the energy industry and their infrastructure investors some of those companies sent representatives to speak at the Sweeney center today they acknowledge that public approval of offshore wind has tumbled in New Jersey according to surveys done by Mammoth University and the best way to move forward is by more communication with the public there is a need for early and often engagement um I would say that there's an increased need to get ahead of it I think that's super important to just remind with that this this is a constant conversation that has to be engaged with by everyone along with fighting climate change leaders say offshore wind could bring thousands of new jobs and create opportunities for college students like those at Rowan University from preparing the workforce of the future to performing the research and development needed to ensure Ure the near-term and future success of the offshore wind industry we are ready to do this thing even if there are more setbacks to come sometime between now and the finish line of this industry there will be some other challenge something else bad will happen that's the nature of building a brand new industry if you had sold all your Apple stock in the late 90s you'd feel pretty stupid right now there's still a long way for these sites to go the offshore wind projects approved this year aren't projected to start Seaside construction for 4 years and they're not going to produce electricity until at least 2031 at Rowan University I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight news support for the business report is provided by Junior Achievement of New Jersey providing students with skills and knowledge to explore choose and Advance their career paths for a bright future online at J nj.org