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Empire Wind, an Equinor and BP project being developed off the coast of New York, has received federal approval, the Department of the Interior announced Tuesday.
The Empire Wind project will consist of two facilities, Empire Wind 1 of 816 MW and Empire Wind 2 of 1,260 MW. This is the sixth commercial-scale offshore wind project approved for development in the US, DOI said.
The approval of these facilities comes after two projects being developed off the coast of New Jersey, Ocean Wind 1 and 2, were canceled by developer Ørsted earlier this month due to financial problems infeasible
The US offshore wind industry has been in financial turmoil over the past year as rising interest rates, inflation, permitting challenges and supply chain issues have dogged these energy-intensive projects. capital
On the same day that Ørsted canceled its Ocean Wind projects, BP’s head of gas and low carbon, Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath, said the US offshore wind industry is “fundamentally broken”, Reuters reported. BP recently announced a $540 million impairment on its projects off the coast of New York.
Despite this, New York has continued to move forward: the state’s first wind turbine was installed this week at the South Fork Wind Farm, and a new round of offshore wind procurement was recently announced.
Oceantic Network chief executive Liz Burdock said a “parade of positive developments” coming out of New York had “lifted the industry over the past month”.
“Leadership in Albany and continued work at federal agencies are going a long way toward securing new investments in ports, ships and component manufacturing facilities that will be key to the development of American industry,” he said. Burdock.
The Office of Ocean Energy Management also approved Revolution Wind’s construction and operations plan last Friday, advancing a 704 MW project off the coast of Rhode Island.
American Clean Power Association chief advocacy officer JC Sandberg said the group is “grateful” for the federal decisions to move forward with Empire Wind and Revolution Wind, and that “the benefits from these projects moving forward they cannot be exaggerated.”
“Empire Wind will produce 2.1 gigawatts of clean energy, enough to power more than 1 million homes in New York,” Sandberg said. “This project will stimulate the regional economy, revitalize ports and create many new job opportunities, including new manufacturing, installation, maintenance and operations jobs.”
