Norwegian energy company Statoil plans to sign a power purchase agreement with a U.S. utility by the end of 2018 in order to develop an offshore wind project off New York, a senior company official told Reuters.
Last December, Statoil won the New York offshore wind lease sale, agreeing to pay USD 42.5 million for rights to build an offshore wind farm at the 79,350-acre area which could potentially accommodate up to 1GW of offshore wind.
Stephen Bull, Statoil’s senior vice president, told Reuters that the company now needs to sign a power off-take agreement to develop the project and that the counterpart would be one of New York’s utilities.
After building Hywind Scotland, the world’s first floating wind farm, the company is looking at more opportunities in Japan, California and Hawaii, Reuters said.
According to Reuters, Statoil sees the U.S. as an important emerging market for offshore wind, both for bottom-fixed and floating turbines, and hopes to have a new floating wind project in the next three years.