By Josh Beckerman


Two conditionally awarded New York state offshore wind projects were announced Thursday, one for Equinor's Empire Wind 1 and the other for Sunrise Wind, developed by Ørsted and Eversource.

Eversource, which has been working on exiting its offshore wind investments, said it would move forward with its agreement to sell its 50% Sunrise Wind stake to Ørsted. Eversource would remain contracted to lead onshore construction.

"Upon the completion of a successful sale, Eversource no longer expects to have any risk exposure related to Sunrise Wind, including abandonment costs that were assumed in its impairment assessment," the company said.

Eversource said Feb. 13 that it agreed to sell its 50% ownership share in South Fork Wind and Revolution Wind to Global Infrastructure Partners.

Sunrise Wind is planned at 924 megawatts, with an expected commercial operation date of 2026. Empire Wind 1, planned at 810 megawatts, has an anticipated commercial operation date of 2027.

Equinor and BP said in early January that they would terminate the Empire Wind 2 project, citing "commercial conditions driven by inflation, interest rates and supply chain disruptions." A few weeks later, Equinor said it would take full ownership of Empire Wind's lease and projects through a swap transaction, and said BP would take over Beacon Wind Holdings.

Equinor said Thursday that it "intends to bring in a partner to enhance value and reduce ownership share and exposure" in Empire Wind 1.

In November, Ørsted said it would stop development of two New Jersey offshore wind farm projects.


Write to Josh Beckerman at josh.beckerman@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-29-24 1355ET