Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and Avangrid Renewables are dividing their shared US offshore wind assets to focus on their own expansion plans, the companies explained.
The companies will still work together on the construction and operation phases of their planned 806MW Vineyard Wind 1 project, which is scheduled to deliver first power to the grid in 2023. They will each own 50% of the project.
However, there are currently no plans to jointly develop further projects beyond Vineyard 1, a CIP spokesperson confirmed.
Under the terms of the asset swap, CIP will become the full owner of the federal lease area OCS-A 522, which it believes can eventually support up to 2.5GW of offshore wind capacity, and could supply power to New York and Massachusetts.
This lease area contains the Vineyard 1 project, which is due to be the US’s first large-scale offshore wind farm. The former partners recently reached financial close on the project.
Meanwhile, Avangrid Renewables will become the full owner of lease area OCS-A 534, which contains the up to 1.2GW Commonwealth Wind – for which CIP and Avangrid submitted bids last week – and 791MW New England Wind 1 projects.
Avangrid Renewables will pay CIP $167.5 million upon closing of the deal – which is expected in the next six months – due to the more advanced development of the Park City and Commonwealth projects.
“We strongly believe in the fundamentals of offshore wind and we see significant growth opportunities in the US offshore wind market. We have been front runners in the US offshore wind market by taking Vineyard Wind 1 to financial close, and we are looking forward to doing the same with the projects to be developed in lease area 522,” said Michael Hannibal, partner at CIP.
CIP will also be looking to secure more offshore wind capacity through the upcoming lease auctions to be held in the New York Bight area and off the coast of California, it added.
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