(Reuters) - Two European energy companies on Thursday said they reached a deal with New York City to transform a Brooklyn port complex into an operations and staging hub for offshore wind projects planned in the region.
The agreement is the latest sign of corporate and government interest in offshore wind as a new domestic industry that will help reduce climate-warming emissions and create thousands of jobs. New York has a goal of developing 9 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2035, enough to power up to 6 million homes.
Norway's Equinor and Britain's bp said in a statement that they would spend up to $250 million on upgrading the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal. The waterfront site was chosen because it is the only such facility in the New York City area that could accommodate the scale of offshore wind components, the companies said.
The commitment to using the Brooklyn site and the Port of Albany was part of how the companies won contracts with the state earlier this year.
In a separate statement, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the deal would support more than 1,000 jobs at the complex.
Equinor and bp are partners in the Empire Wind and Beacon Wind offshore wind projects that, combined, will one day be capable of producing enough electricity to power 2 million homes. They are expected to start operating between 2026 and 2028.