U.S. Approves Empire Wind Offshore Project, Sixth Under Biden's Administration

Joint venture by Equinor and BP to power over 700,000 homes annually, despite facing significant financial challenges.

The U.S. Department of the Interior has approved the Empire Wind offshore project, a venture co-owned by Equinor ASA and BP plc. This project marks the sixth commercial-scale wind farm to receive approval under President Biden's administration.
The Empire Wind project comprises two separate offshore wind farms, Empire Wind 1 and Empire Wind 2, located about 12 nautical miles south of Long Island, N.Y., and about 16.9 nm east of Long Branch, N.J.
Together, these projects would have up to 147 wind turbines with a total capacity of 2,076 megawatts of clean, renewable energy that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) estimates could power more than 700,000 homes each year.
Both Equinor and BP have faced significant writedowns on their U.S. offshore wind projects, which are still under development. However, a new auction planned by New York state could potentially help cover these costs.
The approval of this project is part of a broader initiative to achieve the goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030.