Equinor and BP announced last week the launch of the New York-based Offshore Wind Innovation Hub, which will facilitate partnerships with start-ups that bring new technological solutions to the rapidly growing US offshore wind industry. The initiative springs from a new three-year partnership between Equinor, the Urban Future Lab (UFL) at the NY Tandon School of Engineering, and the National Offshore Wind R&D Consortium (NOWRDC), supported by New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC).
The new Innovation Hub will leverage the success of the UFL in promoting and helping the launch of cleantech start-ups, fostering collaboration with the international incubator community to cultivate pilots and demonstration projects that accelerate advances in offshore wind.
The Hub will create a physical location for offshore wind programming and serve as a centre for the industry’s innovation ecosystem. The Hub will host educational programming, workshops and curricula for the start-ups, as well as networking opportunities with industry participants. It will be located adjacent to Equinor and bp’s new project office in Sunset Park.
Equinor is leading the initiative on behalf of its 50-50 strategic partnership with BP. Together, the companies are developing the Beacon Wind and Empire Wind projects, which will supply 3.3 GWs of renewable energy to New York.
In the coming months, the partners will develop a call for applications to identify and select industry-leading start-ups whose technologies address key challenges facing US offshore wind. Once chosen, these start-ups will receive tailored support and unique programming that draws on UFL’s network of mentors, NOWRDC’s industry community, and key policy figures in the technology areas identified for the cohort – laying the groundwork for potential partnerships between Equinor and the participating start-ups.
