National Grid reveals $402m hit to sidelined New York Bight offshore wind project
The developer with partner RWE cited US market uncertainty to move to pause array on $1.1bn lease
London-based utility National Grid booked a £303m ($402m) impairment on its Community Offshore Wind array to New York jointly owned with partner RWE that the developers paused due to “increased uncertainty” in the US market.
“Given current market conditions and increased uncertainty on the development timeline of Community Offshore Wind... we have reduced the scope of our development activities until there is greater certainty,” the company said in a statement.
The project is being developed on the joint venture (JV)’s New York Bight lease acquired in the blockbuster 2022 auction. The partners paid some $1.1bn for the 126,000-acre (510 sq. km) area 64 miles (103km) south of New York's coastline, the most ever for acreage in US offshore wind.
Since taking office, Trump has exceeded expectations by not only freezing offshore wind leasing and permitting but putting existing projects up for review with the goal of termination or modification.
“Whilst there are longer term trends that give us confidence in the need for offshore wind generation in the north east, significant nearer term policy uncertainty has led us to recognise an accounting impairment,” the company revealed in its 2024/2025 financial results.
“Our focus remains on delivering efficient and required energy infrastructure that will lead to affordable, reliable energy for our customers,” it added.
National Grid serves electricity and natural gas to some 20 million people across New York and Massachusetts and is among three utilities struggling to finalise offshore wind power purchase agreements with Avangrid and Ocean Winds for Massachusetts.
The company posted an operating profit of £5.36bn for the year ending 31 March, a 12% annual increase, and remains committed to its plan to invest £60bn in energy networks by March 2029.
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