The Interior Department approved plans Wednesday for the Empire Wind projects offshore New York and New Jersey, delivering a win for the industry and for commercial-scale wind projects that have struggled to adjust to higher costs in the U.S.
The Empire Wind project, jointly owned by Equinor and BP, is the sixth commercial-scale offshore development to be approved under the Biden administration as it looks to deliver on its ambitious renewable energy and offshore wind goals.
The Empire Wind project will consist of two separate wind farms offshore New York and New Jersey, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said Wednesday. Empire Wind 1, near Long Island, will have a capacity of 816 megawatts, and Empire Wind 2, near Long Branch, will have a capacity of 1,260 megawatts. Empire 1 and 2 are scheduled to come online in 2026 and 2027, respectively, and will have enough capacity combined to power roughly 700,000 homes.
BOEM said Wednesday that the Empire Wind projects are expected to add 830 jobs per year during the construction phase and roughly 300 jobs annually during the operations phase.
“Today’s approval of the sixth offshore wind project adds to the significant progress towards our Administration’s clean energy goals," Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement.
"Together with the labor community, industry, Tribes, and partners from coast to coast, we will continue to expand clean energy development in a manner that will benefit communities, strengthen our nation’s energy security, and address climate change," she added.
News of the approval is a shot in the arm for the U.S. offshore industry, which has struggled to overcome a cascading series of setbacks from fast-rising material costs and inflation.
It also comes after Equinor and BP joined three other offshore project developers in October in calling on New York regulators to raise project costs by 54%.
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Though that request was unanimously denied (prompting BP and Equinor to announce an $840 million write-down on the projects), New York officials announced earlier this month that it will publish a new offshore wind solicitation in a bid to incentivize new business and keep planned projects moving forward.
The solicitation is slated to be published by the end of the month. Crucially, it will also be open to offshore developers with existing offshore contracts, who will be allowed to exit their old agreements and resubmit a proposal that more accurately reflects higher project costs.