By Joe Ryan

(Bloomberg) — Dong Energy A/S, the world’s largest offshore-wind developer, agreed to amass a lease for a website off the coast of New Jersey with greater than 1,000 megawatts of potential capability, marking the corporate’s second push into U.S. waters.

Dong plans to take over the 160,480-acre lease from RES Americas Development Inc., the Fredericia, Denmark-based firm stated in a press release Tuesday. RES Americas gained the lease in a November public sale held by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which should approve the switch.

Dong is shifting into an space the place offshore wind has languished. The state’s Board of Public Utilities has rejected Fishermen’s Energy LLC’s proposal for a 25-megawatt pilot venture, saying the facility could be too costly for shoppers. Building an even bigger facility and paying for development itself will deal with that, based on Thomas Brostrom, Dong’s normal supervisor of North America.

“We are looking at a large-scale project here,” he stated in an interview Tuesday. “You have a lot of benefits from that.”

Familiar Terrain

The New Jersey lease space is 10 nautical miles off shore, south of Atlantic City, with water depths of about 80 toes (24 meters). The circumstances are just like these Dong at present works with in North-Western Europe, the corporate stated.

Last 12 months Dong acquired a website south of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, in one other cope with RES. Both tasks would require state and federal permits. It will likely be a minimum of 4 years earlier than development can start, and it’s too early to estimate the price of both venture, Brostrom stated.

Dong, which pioneered the world’s first offshore wind farm in 1991, has tasks with greater than 2,000 megawatts of capability in operation and one other 1,000 megawatts below development. The firm opened its first U.S. workplace final 12 months in Boston and is scouting the East Coast for different areas to construct, Brostrom stated.

“To build an industry you need volume,” he stated. “We see a lot of potential in the American market.”

©2016 Bloomberg News