Workplaces of vitality firm Equinor photographed in Norway on February 6, 2019.
Odin Jaeger | Bloomberg | Getty Photographs
Norway’s Equinor has been awarded a significant contract to supply renewable vitality to New York state from two big offshore wind farms situated in waters off the East Coast.
In an announcement Wednesday, the agency mentioned it was the “largest-ever” offshore wind deal that had been awarded within the U.S. — and in addition “one of many largest renewable vitality procurements within the U.S. thus far.”
Underneath the phrases of the deal, Equinor and its accomplice BP will present New York with renewable vitality from the Empire Wind 2 and Beacon Wind 1 tasks.
The 2 companies will even work with New York to develop the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal and Port of Albany into what Equinor described as “large-scale offshore wind working industrial services.”
Final yr, BP agreed to take 50% stakes within the Empire Wind and Beacon Wind tasks from Equinor, in a deal set to shut within the early a part of 2021.
The Empire Wind 2 and Beacon Wind 1 developments may have a capability of 1,260 and 1,230 megawatts (MW) respectively. The contract introduced on Wednesday will complement one other settlement for vitality from the 816 MW Empire Wind 1 venture. Capability refers back to the most quantity that installations can produce, not what they’re at the moment producing.
When totally completed, Equinor says the general Empire Wind and Beacon Wind tasks will every be capable to energy over a million properties.
In an announcement, Equinor’s CEO Anders Opedal described the East Coast of the USA as “one of the engaging development markets for offshore wind on the planet.”
Whereas it could have potential, the U.S. continues to be a way off matching different elements of the world relating to scale.
The nation’s first offshore wind farm — the 30 MW, five-turbine Block Island Wind Farm, which is operated by Danish firm Orsted — solely began industrial operations on the finish of 2016.
By comparability, Europe is house to a lot of big offshore wind tasks. Final November, Orsted introduced that the 752 MW Borssele 1 & 2 offshore facility was totally up and operating, claiming it might present sufficient electrical energy to energy 1 million households.
In plans laid out towards the tip of final yr, the European Union mentioned it needed its offshore wind capability to hit 300 gigawatts by the center of the century.
Whereas each Equinor and BP try to develop extra renewable vitality tasks, they continue to be main gamers within the oil and gasoline sector.
