Jan 4 (LNGJ) - UK and Norwegian majors BP and Equinor, who are global leaders in oil and gas and LNG, have reached a deal to end a contract to sell energy from a planned whale of a project for wind power offshore the state of New York in what is the latest such venture to be derailed by worsening wind industry economics. New York’s climate law calls for the state to get 70 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2030, with a target to install 9 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2035.
As part of its plan, the state awarded BP and Equinor contracts to develop the Empire Wind complex located about 15 miles south of New York’s Long Island, with 147 turbines set to be spread over 80,000 acres of open sea. The deal just terminated was signed in 2022. BP and Equinor had agreed to sell renewable energy credits from the 1,260 megawatts Empire Wind II phase of the project at a strike price of $107.50 per megawatt-hour. The companies had earlier petitioned the state utilities regulator to renegotiate the prices of the credits because of “unforeseeable economic forces”.
