Following the announcement of provisional winners by the US Department of the Interior (DOI) and BOEM, Equinor issued a press release saying its area has around 2 GW of capacity, enough to power approximately 900,000 US homes.
The company said its provisional win in the Central Atlantic builds off recent offshore wind milestones on the East Coast, with construction ongoing at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal and offshore work underway to support the Empire Wind 1 project .
“Today’s announcement underscores Equinor’s commitment to delivering value through renewable projects. This is a long-term option with first power post-2035. Developing this lease area will draw upon Equinor’s proven capabilities in offshore wind. We will take a disciplined approach to minimize risk and mature a robust project in our portfolio”, said Pål Eitrheim , executive vice president of Equinor Renewables.
The company noted that it would now work with BOEM to certify the lease and that the Central Atlantic site would be added to its existing US offshore wind portfolio after regulatory approvals.
Dominion Energy, which is currently building the biggest US offshore wind farm off Virginia, said that winning the Central Atlantic lease area provides the company with the option to pursue additional offshore wind development in the mid-Atlantic.
BOEM indicates Dominion’s lease area could support between 2.1 GW and 4 GW of offshore wind generation capacity.
In early July, the company announced the acquisition of the Kitty Hawk Wind North offshore wind lease area from Avangrid, which Dominion will rename CVOW South. At this time, the company does not have an estimated timeline or cost for the development of either CVOW South or the new leasehold, Dominion said.
“Offshore wind is critical to our all-of-the-above approach to meet the unprecedented growth of our customer electric demand over the next decade”, said Robert M. Blue , chair, president and chief executive officer of Dominion Energy. “Winning this lease area gives us another low-cost option to meet that growing demand while providing our customers with reliable, affordable and increasing clean energy”.
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