Equinor wins offshore wind lease offshore Delaware

Equinor has won a ~2 GW lease in the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) offshore wind energy lease auction in the US Central Atlantic region. 

With a bid of $75 million for 101,443 acres in the Atlantic Ocean, Equinor secured one of two fixed-bottom lease areas in the auction located 26 nautical miles from the mouth of the Delaware Bay.

The company says the lease will have the capacity to produce enough energy to power about 900,000 homes.

Equinor will work with BOEM to certify the lease, and after regulatory approvals, the Central Atlantic site would be added to Equinor’s existing US offshore wind portfolio.

“This is a long-term option with first power post 2035,” said Pål Eitrheim, executive vice president of Equinor Renewables.

The Central Atlantic Final Sale Notice also included one lease area offshore Virginia. Dominion Energy was provisionally awarded the 176,505-acre area for just over $17.5 million. 

Equinor’s other recent offshore wind milestones on the East Coast include construction ongoing at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal and offshore work underway to support the Empire Wind 1 project.

In June, Equinor executed a purchase and sale agreement for the power generated by the planned Empire Wind 1 offshore wind project with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). It follows NYSERDA’s conditional selection in February of the company as winner under New York’s fourth offshore wind solicitation.