Our strategic partnership with Equinor is developing US offshore wind projects, starting with up to 4.4 GW across the Northeast coast – projects known as Empire Wind (15–30 miles southeast of Long Island) and Beacon Wind (about 20 miles south of Nantucket, Massachusetts). The agreements with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority expect that these projects will produce enough electricity to power about 2 million New York homes and will help generate more than $1 billion in economic output to New York State.
The projects include port upgrades to transform South Brooklyn Marine Terminal. Under the agreement, the terminal will transform into a world-class offshore wind port capable of staging and assembling the largest, most sophisticated offshore wind technology components for the Empire Wind and Beacon Wind projects and for the growing US offshore industry on the East Coast. The partnership will also invest in the Port of Albany, making it America’s first offshore wind tower and transition piece manufacturing facility.
In September 2020 we completed a major technology upgrade at our Flat Ridge 1 wind farm in south-central Kansas, replacing 19 existing turbine units with new Vestas turbines that are expected to deliver a 20–25% gain in energy production across the site.
"This project is a significant step forward in our ongoing efforts to optimize and grow bp wind energy. bp has been in renewables for more than 20 years, and we believe it’s important to remain at the forefront of wind energy technology. This project supports that goal, as well as our broader ambition to become a net zero company by 2050 or sooner."
Additionally, the bp Wind Energy team continues to increase their partnership and projects with ONYX Insights – an industry leading predictive analytics provider and a wholly owned subsidiary of bp. By leveraging this technology, we can better understand the life span of turbine components at our wind farms, improve maintenance schedules, reduce costs and avoid breakdowns.
BPWE is the operating partner of the Cedar Creek 2 wind farm in Weld County. This 30,000-acre site has 122 turbines with a total capacity to generate over 248 MW of wind power. This is enough electricity to power approximately 65,000 average homes for a year.
Situated on a 5,400-acre site on the island of Maui, the Auwahi wind farm uses eight wind turbines to generate 21 MW of electricity. Its output can power the equivalent of 5,600 homes each year. BPWE is a non-operating partner of Auwahi.
BPWE owns and operates the Flat Ridge 1 wind farm and is the operating partner in the Flat Ridge 2 wind farm, both located west of Wichita. Spanning over 70,000 acres in Barber, Harper, Kingman and Sumner counties, these two farms have 314 turbines with the capacity to generate 520 MW of electricity, or enough to power about 140,000 average homes.
BPWE is the operating partner of Goshen North wind farm. Situated on about 11,000 acres in Bonneville County, just east of Idaho Falls, Goshen’s 83 wind turbines can generate up to 124.5 MW of electricity. This is enough to power about 33,000 average homes annually.
In Benton County, BPWE operates the Fowler Ridge 1, 2 and 3 wind farms. Spanning over 42,000 acres, these farms have 355 wind turbines with 600 MW of total generating capacity, which can power about 160,000 homes for a year.
BPWE is the operating partner of Mehoopany wind farm. The 9,000-acre site in Wyoming County features 88 wind turbines with the capacity to generate 141 MW of power – enough to provide electricity to 38,000 average homes annually.
Situated on 7,500 acres in Hand County, Titan 1 wind farm is wholly owned and operated by BPWE. The farm has 10 turbines with the capacity to generate 25 MW of wind energy – enough to power about 6,700 average homes annually.
BPWE's headquarters is located in Houston, along with a Remote Operations Center that centrally monitors all bp-operated wind farms – 24 hours a day, seven days a week – while working with colleagues in the field to enhance performance, reliability and safety.