As New Jersey confronts rising electricity costs, growing demand for power, and concerns about grid reliability, a new report from the Garden State Initiative (GSI) looks back at a canceled energy infrastructure project that could have helped address some of these challenges.
Resiliency Lost: The Energy and Leadership Costs of Canceling NJ TRANSIT’s Grid Infrastructure, authored by Chris Jeter, examines the history of a proposed transportation microgrid dubbed NJ TRANSITGRID. The project was developed in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy in 2012 but ultimately canceled by NJ TRANSIT in January 2024.
The report offers both a history lesson and a cautionary tale about the long-term consequences of New Jersey’s infrastructure and energy policy decisions.
Originally conceived to protect critical rail operations for hundreds of thousands of rail commuters during widespread power outages, NJ TRANSITGRID was designed to provide an independent electricity source for portions of the Northeast Corridor, Morris & Essex Lines, and Hudson-Bergen Light Rail.
Early plans contemplated a generating facility of up to approximately 140 megawatts near Kearny, with the potential to support transportation resilience while also contributing to the state’s broader electricity supply.
The project received approximately $410 million in competitive federal funding and advanced through years of planning, environmental review, and procurement before NJ TRANSIT canceled it, citing financial feasibility concerns and improvements in regional grid reliability. Approximately $503 million was subsequently redirected to other infrastructure resilience projects, including improvements to the Raritan River Bridge, Hoboken Long Slip, and County Yard.
While those projects address important transportation needs, the report finds that they do not replace the independent electricity generation and operational redundancy the original microgrid was intended to provide.
The report examines how the project evolved alongside changing state energy policies. In 2020, NJ TRANSIT revised its approach to incorporate more renewable energy and storage technologies, demonstrating the potential to pursue both resilience and environmental objectives.
Beyond its transportation benefits, NJ TRANSITGRID represented an opportunity for New Jersey to demonstrate innovative public-private infrastructure development and establish a model for dedicated microgrids serving critical facilities nationwide.
The report recommends that New Jersey:
- Reconsider the NJ TRANSIT microgrid concept, incorporating modern technology, energy storage, and low-emission backup generation to protect critical rail operations..
- Prioritize affordability and financial feasibility, beginning with the highest-value transportation corridors and expanding as costs and technology permit..
- Maintain existing transportation resilience investments while restoring dedicated electricity supply and redundancy..
- Explore broader applications of microgrid technology to improve reliability and resilience at critical facilities throughout New Jersey..
The report also points to successful microgrid applications, including Princeton University’s system, as examples of how dedicated energy infrastructure can support reliability and operational flexibility.
