Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) have agreed to restructure their 50:50 Vineyard Wind joint venture in an effort to focus on their own expansion plans in the US offshore wind market.

Under the terms of the deal, the two companies plan to split their ownership interests in a roughly 5.3GW pool of potential offshore wind generation assets.

The 800MW Vineyard Wind I project, which reached financial close this month, will continue to be developed on a 50:50 basis between the two companies, with Avangrid reserving the right to take operational control of the project once it comes online in 2023.

Meanwhile, CIP will take ownership of lease area OCS-A 0522, which has the potential to deliver over 2.5GW of offshore wind capacity into New England and New York.

“Lease area 522 has the highest wind speed of any lease area in the northeast and will be a very competitive site for solicitations from New York to Massachusetts, said Christian Skakkebæk, a senior partner at CIP.

In exchange, Avangrid will pay $167.5 million to acquire lease area OCS-A 534, the site of the proposed 804MW Park City Wind project and proposed 2GW Commonwealth Wind project, off the coast of Massachusetts.

The transaction is expected to close in six months' time, subject to regulatory approvals, including from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) as well as Connecticut electric distribution companies.

The Commonwealth project submitted a bid for up to 1,200MW of capacity to the third Massachusetts offshore wind competitive solicitation, last week.

CIP will also be aiming to secure more offshore wind capacity through upcoming lease auctions to be held by BOEM in the New York Bight area and California.

“We are proud of the extraordinary accomplishments achieved in partnership with CIP, including the first commercial-scale offshore wind farm in the United States,” said Dennis Arriola, CEO of Avangrid. “This restructuring is aligned with our long-term growth strategy and our aspiration to be the leading sustainable energy company in the US.”

(A version of this story first appeared on Power Finance & Risk)