Renewable

January 17 (Renewables Now) - The purchase and sale agreements (PSAs) for the Empire Wind Phase 2 and the Beacon Wind projects were finalised last week to bring clean power to the state of New York from an installed capacity of close to 2.5 GW.

The two projects were provisionally selected last January in an offshore solicitation held by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). The finalisation of the PSAs was a condition to formally close the award process and enables the start of project execution.

The 1,260-MW Empire Wind 2 and the 1,230-MW Beacon Wind 1 developments are owned by a joint venture between Norway’s Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) and BP Plc (LON:BP). The partners will get payments from NYSERDA once their projects receive all needed permits and begin power supplies to New York. Customers’ bills will be impacted by around USD 0.95 ( EUR 0.83) per month, the agency said.

The Empire Wind 2 will add 1,260 MW of offshore wind capacity. It will be installed 15-30 miles (24km-48km) southeast of Long Island, within the 80,000-acre Empire Wind lease area that Equinor secured in 2017. The Beacon Wind 1, meanwhile, will be located within the Beacon Wind lease area east of Montauk Point and south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, which covers 128,000 acres and can accommodate over 2,400 GW of turbines. Beacon Wind 1 will have a capacity of 1,230 MW. Both projects include port upgrades to the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, representing public and private funding commitments of USD 644 million.

Empire Wind 2 is planned to be commissioned in 2027, followed by Beacon Wind 1 in 2028.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.876)

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