Equinor Upbeat About Investor Interest in US Offshore Wind Farm

Norway's Equinor is confident of finding an investor for its planned Empire Wind 1 offshore wind farm in New York after a new power off-take agreement improved the project's economics, the company said on Thursday.

New York State authorities in February awarded the project a new conditional power purchase contract, replacing a previous deal that was no longer competitive due to rising construction costs, higher interest rates and supply chain snags.

Equinor was glad to have received the new contract, which significantly changed the economics of the project, CFO Torgrim Reitan told analysts during an earnings call on Thursday.

"2024 is the year of de-risking for the Empire Wind 1 project in New York and we are progressing," he said.

The company plans to sell a stake as part of a so-called farm down to a new partner to reduce capital expenditure, with Reitan saying there was "a broad set of potential interested parties."

It would mark the second farm down for Empire Wind 1, after Equinor earlier this year parted ways with its previous partner BP.

Equinor will reveal the price of its new contract with New York once it is firmly signed, with only an average for several awarded projects given in February, the CFO said.

All necessary procurement contract were more or less settled for the project, however, with very little remaining exposure to inflation, he added.

Equinor has opted for 15-megawatt (MW) Vestas VWS.CO wind turbines for the project, a proven technology, Reitan said.

"We feel confident in the delivery of that," he added.

Reitan's comment followed news last week that New York had rejected contracts for three other projects that had been hoping to utilise 18-MW wind turbines, as the chosen manufacturer, GE Vernova, had decided not to produce those turbines.

(Reuters - Reporting by Nora Buli, editing by Terje Solsvik)