Offices of the energy company Equinor photographed in Norway on February 6, 2019.
Odin Jaeger | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Norway’s Equinor has been awarded a major contract to provide renewable energy to New York State from two huge offshore wind farms located on the east coast waters.
In an announcement Wednesday, the firm said it was the “largest wind deal in history” that had been awarded in the United States and that it was also “one of the largest renewable energy contracts in the United States.” Bye now”.
Under the terms of the agreement, Equinor and its partner BP will provide New York with renewable energy from the Empire Wind 2 and Beacon Wind 1 projects.
The two companies will also work with New York to develop the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal and the Port of Albany in what Equinor described as “large-scale offshore wind industrial facilities.”
Last year, BP agreed to take a 50% stake in Equinor’s Empire Wind and Beacon Wind projects, in a deal that would close in early 2021.
The Empire Wind 2 and Beacon Wind 1 developments will have a capacity of 1,260 and 1,230 megawatts (MW) respectively. The contract announced Wednesday will complement another 816 MW Empire Wind 1 project power agreement. Capacity refers to the maximum amount that facilities can produce, not what they are currently generating.
When fully completed, Equinor says the overall Empire Wind and Beacon Wind projects will be able to feed more than a million homes.
In a statement, Equinor CEO Anders Opedal described the east coast of the United States as “one of the most attractive growth markets for the world’s offshore wind wind.”
While it may have potential, the United States is still far from coinciding with other parts of the world when it comes to climbing.
The country’s first offshore wind farm, the 30-MW Block Island five-turbine wind farm, operated by Danish company Orsted, only began commercial operations in late 2016.
In comparison, there are numerous huge offshore wind projects in Europe. Last November, Orsted announced that the 752 MW Borssele 1 and 2 marine facilities were fully operational, claiming it could provide enough electricity to power 1 million homes.
In plans set for late last year, the European Union said it wanted its offshore wind capacity to reach 300 gigawatts by the middle of the century.
Although both Equinor and BP are trying to develop more renewable energy projects, they remain the main players in the oil and gas sector.