- Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners announce restructuring of offshore wind venture
- Companies will continue to develop the nation’s first commercial offshore wind facility jointly, but will take full ownership of separate parcels
- Connecticut-based Avangrid to pay $167.5 million to acquire a full stake in a lease area with the potential for approximately 2 gigawatts of electricity production
Summary by Dirk Langeveld
Two offshore wind partners, including one based in Connecticut, have announced a restructuring of their Vineyard Wind joint venture. The partners state that the restructuring will “enable both companies to leverage their strengths and expertise to continue to grow the U.S. offshore wind industry.”
Avangrid Renewables, which is headquartered in Orange, and the Danish developer Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners will continue to develop the United States’ first commercial scale offshore wind farm as a 50-50 partnership, but will also each take full ownership of separate lease areas to develop them separately.
The partners will continue to jointly develop Vineyard Wind I, an 800-megawatt facility which will deliver electricity to Massachusetts. The project reached financial close last month, will begin construction this month, and is set to go into operation in 2023. Avangrid will have the option to take operational control once Vineyard Wind I begins producing power.
- Avangrid will take full ownership of a lease area that includes Park City Wind, an 804-megawatt project to deliver power to Connecticut, and Commonwealth Wind, which has submitted a wind for up to 1.2 gigawatts of energy capacity
- Copenhagen will take full ownership of another lease area with potential for 2.5 gigawatts of energy capacity to be delivered to New England and New York
- Avangrid will pay $167.5 million to acquire the full stake in its lease area
- The transaction, which is expected to close in about six months, is subject to consents from key stakeholders and regulators, including the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and electric distribution companies in Connecticut
