New Jersey's goal of achieving 100% clean energy by 2035 is hitting several roadblocks caused by uncertainty at the federal level and pushback from the Trump administration on clean energy projects, including an executive order pausing offshore wind production that advocates say could upend years of work to transition from fossil fuels to renewables.

A group of experts met today for an energy conference at Rowan University to talk about new ways the state can meet the needs of the future.

Ted Goldberg reports.

We're in a very interesting time with respect to to energy and energy policy.

Interesting Times is one way to describe the current energy landscape in New Jersey.

Costs have jumped for customers statewide, and demand is only growing in the Garden State.

Across the country, across the globe is going to be a energy monster.

It's also being driven by the proliferation of electric vehicles, the electrification of homes and the on shoring of manufacturing here in the United States.

The Sweeney Center at Rowan University hosted a bevy of energy minded speakers who found some common ground on New Jersey's energy future.

We just need we need watts, we need power, and we we want those.

What's in the Q to to to find their way through and to connect.

That Q belongs to PJM, New Jersey's grid operator and possible scapegoat for rising power costs.

Many have blamed PJM for taking too long to add new sources of power to the grid.

While senior vice president Awesome Hook says they're making progress.

We started to get thousands of these projects that wanted to connect into the grid, so we needed to reform how we did things from a first in, first out, first ready, first out.

Dynamic supply is not rising with demand leading to higher prices.

There was widespread discussion as to where more power should come from.

It's undeniable that clean energy growth in New Jersey and throughout PJM has helped to reduce capacity costs.

Right now, gas is a very viable solution.

You're going to need to have that baseload power consistent and it's going to be there.

And that's where nuclear's really going.

To come in as much as I am in favor of a balanced energy mix.

And I think nuclear is a critical component of that.

You're not going to see new nuclear plants popping up across New Jersey or any of the states in the region, I don't think any time, anytime soon.

But the technologies have changed.

The innovations have changed.

It's not the nuclear of your grandpa's age.

We already have a footprint of five gigawatts of solar in state.

We ought to be thinking about how do we leverage that footprint.

Now we've got panels that produce 2 to 3 times that amount than when they were originally installed at lower costs.

PJM and New Jersey both get a majority of their electricity from nuclear and natural gas.

Offshore.

Wind won't be contributing to New Jersey anytime soon, thanks to recent executive orders from Washington.

And some who spoke Thursday were upset about that.

Its 5.2 gigawatts of power, its roughly 15,000 high quality New Jersey jobs.

There are challenges, market volatility, supply chain constraints.

Obviously the attack from Washington, D.C. are all not helpful.

New Jersey, South Jersey in particular is poised to have ten, 20, 30.

Estimates vary.

Tens of thousands of jobs from the offshore wind industry.

And people are celebrating that.

There's real challenges.

Never seen it before my life.

Tim Sullivan leads the state's economic Development Authority and acknowledged that offshore wind was in troubled waters even before President Trump took office.

Most of New Jersey's new power projects are solar, while a new nuclear plant could take decades to go online.

At Rowan University, I'm Ted Goldberg.

NJ Spotlight News.