New Jersey’s energy policy does not get set one bill at a time. It flows from a single governing document: the Energy Master Plan, or EMP. Every major clean energy target, every grid modernization push, and every affordability program the state rolls out traces back to this plan and the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) process that produces it.
For developers, utilities, trade associations, and businesses operating in New Jersey, understanding the EMP is not optional homework. It is the single best predictor of where state incentives, permitting priorities, and regulatory attention are headed over the next decade. This guide breaks down what the EMP is, what changed between the 2019 and 2024 editions, and what stakeholders need to do to make sure their interests are represented as the plan moves from paper to policy.
What Is the New Jersey Energy Master Plan?
The Energy Master Plan is New Jersey’s statewide strategic roadmap for how the state produces, distributes, and consumes energy. It was established under Executive Order No. 28, which directed the BPU, working with the Department of Environmental Protection and other state agencies, to build a long-term blueprint for a cleaner and more reliable energy system.
The EMP isn’t a single law. It is closer to a governing framework: a set of state-endorsed strategies, goals, and recommended actions that shape the executive orders, BPU dockets, incentive programs, and legislation that follow. When you see a new solar incentive, a grid modernization rule, or a transportation electrification program come out of Trenton, it is almost always an implementation of something the EMP called for.
What Changed From the 2019 EMP to the 2024 EMP?
New Jersey released its first modern EMP in 2019, setting a goal of 100% clean energy by 2050 and organizing the state’s approach around seven strategies spanning transportation, renewable deployment, energy efficiency, building decarbonization, grid modernization, environmental justice, and clean energy innovation.
The 2024 EMP, finalized and released on November 24, 2025, after roughly 22 months of modeling and stakeholder engagement, builds directly on that 2019 framework rather than replacing it. The update reflects an accelerated timeline: New Jersey now targets 100% clean electricity sales by 2035, not 2050, under Executive Order No. 315, alongside the Global Warming Response Act’s mandate of an 80% cut in economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The plan was built with technical modeling support from Energy and Environmental Economics (E3), ILLUME Advising, and BW Research, and the administration has framed it as a “no-regrets” strategy designed to deliver near-term benefits while staying flexible enough to adapt to new technology, market shifts, and federal policy changes.
Notably, the 2024 EMP arrived right as the Murphy administration’s tenure was ending, handing the incoming Sherrill administration a fully modeled roadmap and an active BPU docket (QO24020126) to build on.
The Seven Strategies Driving New Jersey’s Energy Policy
The 2024 EMP organizes its recommendations into seven strategic priorities the state intends to pursue through 2035 and beyond:
- Accelerate Clean Energy Deployment — scaling up solar, offshore and land-based wind, advanced nuclear, green hydrogen, and battery storage to boost in-state generation and reduce reliance on imported power.
- Expand Electrification and Efficiency Programming — growing energy efficiency programs aimed at long-term bill reduction for residential and commercial customers.
- Ensure Energy Affordability, Equity, and Environmental Justice — expanding bill assistance, piloting time-of-use rates, and lowering upfront costs for heat pumps, EVs, and efficiency upgrades in low- and moderate-income communities.
- Ensure a Reliable and Modern Grid — modernizing interconnection rules, grid technology, and utility infrastructure to handle rising demand.
- Stay the Course on Transportation Electrification — continuing to push toward the state’s electric vehicle adoption targets through incentives, charging infrastructure, and utility investment.
- Enhance Regional Coordination and Advocacy — deepening New Jersey’s role in the newly formed PJM Governor’s Collaborative, a Statement of Intent signed with ten other PJM states to jointly tackle grid reliability and cost challenges.
- Drive Innovation and Workforce Development – building clean energy training hubs and apprenticeship pipelines to meet a projected need of 14,300 to 42,400 net new energy-sector workers between 2022 and 2035.
Key Targets Every Stakeholder Should Track
A few numbers anchor the entire plan, and they’re worth keeping on hand for any conversation with regulators, legislators, or clients about New Jersey energy policy:
- 100% clean electricity sales by 2035 (Executive Order No. 315), an acceleration from the original 2050 target.
- 80% reduction in economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, mandated by the Global Warming Response Act.
- 330,000 light-duty electric vehicles on the road by the end of 2025 — a statutory goal the state was closing in on, with roughly 260,000 EVs and more than 5,000 charging ports deployed as of the plan’s release.
- 14,300 to 42,400 net new clean energy jobs projected between 2022 and 2035, driving the workforce development push.
A New Administration, A New Executive Order
The EMP does not operate in a vacuum, and stakeholders need to watch how each new administration layers its own priorities on top of it. Governor Sherrill campaigned on affordability and pledged to freeze utility rates from her first day in office. Since taking office, her administration has moved to translate that affordability focus into direct action on the grid: a subsequent executive order has directed the BPU to accelerate solar and battery storage development, stand up a virtual power plant program to reduce peak demand using behind-the-meter resources, support modernization of existing natural gas plants, crack down on speculative “ghost load” interconnection requests, and streamline permitting and interconnection review.
For stakeholders, the takeaway is that the EMP’s long-term strategies remain intact, but the near-term implementation priorities and the pace at which the BPU moves are very much shaped by whoever holds the Governor’s Office. Trade associations and the businesses they represent expressed hope that the new administration would carry the plan’s affordability and reliability goals forward in a way that works for ratepayers and industry alike.
Why the EMP Matters for Developers, Utilities, and Trade Associations
Every one of the EMP’s seven strategies translates into a specific set of opportunities and compliance obligations depending on where a business sits in the energy value chain.
Renewable and storage developers should expect continued incentive design activity at the BPU as the state works to hit its 2035 target, alongside real scrutiny of interconnection queue backlogs. Utilities are looking at grid modernization mandates, integrated distribution planning, and new virtual power plant infrastructure. Trade associations representing energy-intensive industries have a direct stake in how the affordability and environmental justice strategy gets implemented, since bill assistance and rate design changes affect the entire ratepayer base. And any business watching New Jersey’s participation in the PJM Governor’s Collaborative should know that regional transmission and capacity market decisions increasingly get shaped through that multi-state table, not just in Trenton.
In every case, the plan’s language is where the coming decade of BPU rulemaking, legislative proposals, and incentive programs will originate. Stakeholders who engage early, while strategies are still being translated into specific dockets and bills, have far more influence than those who wait for a rule to be finalized.
How to Engage in the EMP Process
The EMP is a living process, not a one-time report. New Jersey’s stakeholder engagement runs primarily through the BPU docket system, public hearings, focus area meetings, and formal comment periods tied to specific dockets like QO24020126. Legislators also respond to EMP priorities with implementing bills, which means committee testimony and coalition-building in Trenton remain just as important as filings with the BPU.
Effective engagement means tracking docket activity, submitting timely comments grounded in technical and economic data, building relationships with BPU staff and key legislative committees, and coordinating with allied stakeholders so a shared position carries more weight than a single company’s voice.
How GTB Partners Helps Clients Navigate the EMP
GTB Partners has spent years representing developers, trade associations, and nonprofits inside exactly this process, helping clients secure permits and incentives tied to solar, wind, and storage projects while staying ahead of the state’s shifting regulatory priorities.
That means monitoring BPU dockets and EMP-related rulemaking before it reaches a public comment deadline, preparing filings and testimony that reflect how a specific strategy will actually affect a client’s business, and building the legislative relationships needed to shape implementing bills as they move through Trenton. As the Sherrill administration translates the 2024 EMP into its own executive actions, having an advocate who understands both the plan’s long-term architecture and the day-to-day politics of the BPU and Legislature is the difference between reacting to policy and helping write it.