ESSEN, Germany--Energy firm Innogy, in the process of being broken up by parent RWE and rival E.ON, could team up with oil majors to build offshore wind farms in the booming U.S. market, one of its board members said.

Projects off the U.S. coast have become a major target for utilities in Europe, by far the world's largest offshore market in terms of installed capacity, with several large players forming partnerships with Shell.

"Big oil firms are muscling into the market for renewable energy--because their previous business model is finite," Hans Buenting, Innogy's chief operating officer in charge of renewables, told Reuters.

He said he was optimistic the group would meet its target of installing more than 500 megawatt of onshore wind power in the United States by the end of next year.

Offshore