The Danish company, Ørsted, announced it would acquire Public Service Enterprise Group’s (PSEG) 25% stake in Ocean Wind 1. The deal, expected to close in the first half of 2023, will give Ørsted 100% ownership of the offshore wind project.
PSEG entered into the partnership with Ørsted in April 2021 after gaining approval from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. In the company’s third quarter earnings call in 2022, PSEG’s newly appointed Chief Executive Officer Ralph LaRossa said the company had yet to “fully commit” to its 25% partnership on Ocean Wind 1.
In a statement, the company said, “It’s become clear that it’s best for the project for PSEG to step aside and allow for a better positioned investor to join the project, so that it can proceed with an optimized tax structure.”
Whether that means that a new partner may join Ørsted is unclear.
PSEG says that offshore wind is still a targeted business area for the company.
Ocean Wind 1 is an1,100-megawatt project 15 miles off the New Jersey shore. It is scheduled to begin construction in 2023 and to start proving power from its wind farm in 2024.
Ørsted’s Ocean Wind 2 project is expected to begin construction in 2028, with operations supplying energy by 2029.
Combined, the two wind farm projects will supply 2,200 megawatts of wind energy to the Garden State.
