Equinor has entered an agreement with BP to sell a 50% stake in its US offshore wind projects Empire Wind and Beacon Wind for $1.1bn.
BP’s acquisition of the interests in the projects, which total up to 4.4GW of capacity, is expected to close in early 2021.
The transaction also marks the start of a strategic partnership between the two companies to pursue further opportunities in bottom-fixed and floating offshore wind in the US market.
The partnership will leverage “relevant expertise to jointly grow scale”, the companies stated.
BP stated the partnership, which is its first offshore wind venture, is an “important step” towards its aim of having developed 50GW of renewable power by 2030.
BP chief executive Bernard Looney (pictured) said: “This is an important early step in the delivery of our new strategy and our pivot to truly becoming an integrated energy company.
“Offshore wind is growing at around 20% a year globally and is recognised as being a core part of meeting the world’s need to limit emissions.
“Equinor is a recognised sector leader and this partnership builds on a long history between our two companies.
“It will play a vital role in allowing us to deliver our aim of rapidly scaling up our renewable energy capacity, and in doing so help deliver the energy the world wants and needs.”
Equinor holds a 100% interest in both the Empire Wind lease, located off the coast of New York State, and the Beacon Wind lease, off the Massachusetts coast.
Equinor will remain the operator of the projects in the two leases through the development, construction and operations phases with the wind farms becoming equally staffed after a period of time.
Equinor chief executive Eldar Saetre said: “We look forward to working with BP who share our strong ambition to grow in renewable energy.
“Our partnership underlines both companies’ strong commitment to accelerate the energy transition and combining our strengths will enable us to grow a profitable offshore wind business together in the US.”
Equinor has already outlined plans to grow its renewables capacity to 4-6GW by 2026 and 12-16GW by 2035, and has recently announced its expectation to accelerate these ambitions.
Equinor said it is working to build scale in core areas of the North Sea, the United States and the Baltic Sea while securing growth options in other selected markets for both bottom-fixed and floating offshore wind.
Empire Wind is located south-east of Long Island and is being developed in two phases with a potential total installed capacity of more than 2GW.
Beacon Wind is located is east of Montauk Point and south of Nantucket and has the potential to be developed with a total capacity of more than 2.4GW.
The turbines used at each site are each expected to have an installed capacity of more than 10MW.