BP, the British petroleum leader announced its partnership with Norway’s Equinor, forged in a bid to take the first step to expand in the offshore wind market. According to the reports, BP will build offshore wind farms in the United States.

As per the contract, BP will spend $1.1 billion for a 50% interest in Equinor’s Beacon Wind assets and Empire Wind that are located in New York and Massachusetts, respectively.

This move marks BP’s first project into offshore wind. It is a renewable energy source that is estimated to be six-fold globally in the next ten years.

The CEO of BP, Bernard Looney called this agreement an essential early step to deliver the company’s new strategy to become an integrated energy company. He confirmed that globally the offshore wind is growing at the rate of 20% per year and is identified as being a vital segment of the global need to restrain emissions. Equinor is a pioneer in the sector and this collaboration develops on a long history between the two companies. It will play an important role in supporting BP to deliver its aim of scaling up its renewable energy capacity and further help provide the energy the world requires, Looney added.

In August, BP had announced that by 2030, it will surge annual low carbon investment ten-fold to approximately $5 billion and expand developed renewable generating capacity from 2.5 GW in 2019 to about 50GW by 2030. BP confirmed that this deal is a part of this new strategy.

Empire Wind is scheduled for offshore waters of New York City. It has a total area of 80,000 acres and is expected to have an installed capacity of 2 GW. Beacon Wind, which will be located in offshore Massachusetts state will have an installed capacity of 2.4 GW and cover a net area of 128,000 acres.

The contract is subject to customary regulatory and other approvals. It is expected to close in early-2021.

 

Source: https://gcaptain.com/bp-makes-first-move-in-offshore-wind/#:~:text=British%20petroleum%20giant%20BP%20is,farms%20in%20the%20United%20States