President Donald Trump’s campaign against offshore wind energy has entered a new phase with payments to developers to abandon projects. Other lease deals could soon be in jeopardy, industry officials say, after the two companies accepted nearly $2 billion to retire wind farms along the East and West Coasts.
These agreements are part of President Trump’s broader rejection of offshore wind power in favor of increased U.S. oil and gas development.
“We’re hearing from multiple sources that other developers are in talks with the government to cancel their leases,” said Pasha Feinberg, offshore wind strategist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, speaking at a recent webinar on U.S. offshore wind development.
More than 25 offshore wind leases in the U.S. lack permits to build projects, Feinberg said, adding that the Trump administration’s anti-renewable energy policies are preventing developers from obtaining permits.
“That means there are a significant number of leases that could be vulnerable to a transaction like this,” she said.
Wind energy experts are now keeping an eye on other projects that could potentially secure an agreement with President Trump. Potential competitors include offshore wind projects in similar locations that are in earlier stages of development and command higher prices, according to a POLITICO E&E News analysis based on interviews with more than a half-dozen renewable energy advocates and analysts.
Some officials also noted that as a condition of the agreement with the government, companies would likely need to have oil and gas ventures to which they could transfer funds.
The Interior Department did not respond to a request for comment on whether it plans to offer additional deals to offshore wind developers. Agreements already concluded by the department are under intense scrutiny from Democratic lawmakers over the administration’s legitimacy and settlement payment plans.
Some observers said such legal oversight could discourage some developers from pursuing their own deals. Companies with strong ties to Democratic-led states may also be concerned about jeopardizing those relationships by canceling projects that are included in future resource plans.
From the beginning, the Trump administration was intent on restricting offshore wind development. After returning to the White House last year, the president issued an executive order blocking new offshore wind approvals, and the Interior Department issued stop-work orders on five offshore wind projects.
After those efforts failed in court, Mr. Interior took a new tack.
In March, the department announced it would pay French company Total Energy $928 million to cancel two wind energy projects off the coasts of New York and North Carolina. In return, the company agreed to focus its investments on liquefied natural gas on the Gulf Coast. The following month, Interior struck a similar deal with Ocean Winds, refunding the company’s $915 million investment in two wind projects off the coast of New York and California. The company also agreed to focus its investments on “conventional energy projects.”
Timothy Fox, managing director at research firm Clearview Energy Partners, said Total’s deal with the Trump administration is “constructive” if the company wants to move away from wind power, but it’s bad for states trying to meet their renewable energy goals.
“President Trump has been an ardent and frequent opponent of offshore wind, and his administration has signaled an intent to limit the industry to a small number of projects that are in operation or nearly completed construction, and that it intends to rein in the industry even after President Trump leaves office,” Fox said.
He said Trump’s efforts could be successful.
“Project developers, and importantly financiers, are likely to be wary of investing in such a capital-intensive industry, where election risk is clearly high,” Fox said.
Renewable energy advocates say President Trump’s wind deals not only fail to meet states’ clean energy goals, but also threaten companies’ investment in local communities.
When Ocean Winds’ now-cancelled California project was underway, the building industry was investing in new apprenticeship programs to prepare the workforce for the emerging industry, said Joshua Medrano, executive director and treasurer of the Tri-County Building and Construction Trades Council. The council represents 20 craft unions across Central California that build infrastructure and energy projects.
“This sends a damaging signal to workers and communities about whether long-standing industrial energy policy commitments can really be trusted,” Medrano said in a webinar with NRDC’s Feinberg.
Developers who paid top lease rates but have yet to build may have the biggest incentive to follow in the footsteps of Total Winds and Ocean Winds. Industry observers interviewed for this article said these leases are concentrated along the coasts of New York, New Jersey and California.
Leases closest to already canceled projects could also be at risk of cancellation, including one early-stage project off the coast of the Carolinas.
The Trump administration’s apparent willingness to let developers move forward with some offshore wind projects while abandoning others could be an advantage for some companies. Interior’s most viable Massachusetts project, South Coast Wind, was not mentioned in Interior’s deal with Ocean Winds last month to refund investments in two projects in the Mid-Atlantic Coast and California.
The move marks a change in approach from the Trump administration’s first deal with Total, in which the company pledged to no longer pursue wind projects in the U.S. and instead agreed to shore up existing investments in fossil fuel infrastructure.
Offshore wind project developers considered to be in the best position to end negotiations with the Trump administration did not respond to requests for comment on whether they are seeking or plan to seek a settlement. EDF Renewables declined to comment.
While the Trump administration is working to cancel some offshore wind farms, projects nearing completion continue to boost the nation’s renewable energy supply. Such projects are considered unlikely candidates for a deal with President Trump, given their advanced stage of development.
In April, research and consultancy firm Wood Mackenzie released a report saying offshore wind power is delivering projects faster than previously predicted, with 6 gigawatts expected to be in service by next year. This is enough energy to power approximately 2.5 million homes each year.
Ørsted’s Revolution Wind and Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind have begun generating power while their projects remain under construction, with Revolution Wind on track to come online in the second half of this year, while Sunrise Wind is scheduled to come online in the second half of 2027, the company said. All of these projects also withstood a series of previous stop-work orders from the Trump administration.
“The data is overwhelming that[these projects]provide reliable and affordable electricity, and that electricity is not subject to price shocks due to geopolitical changes,” Feinberg said.
For example, Dominion Energy predicts that its project off the coast of Virginia will save ratepayers $5 billion in fuel costs during the first 10 years of operation.
“Our country’s technological potential can generate more than five times the electricity the United States consumes annually, and this energy can be generated where it is needed,” Feinberg said, noting that 40 percent of the U.S. population lives within an hour of a coast.
“Against this backdrop, the Trump administration has decided to escalate its attacks to strangle this industry,” she said.
Here are some projects that renewable energy advocates and analysts say are at risk of cancellation.
new york bay
The triangle of water between Long Island and New Jersey was home to two projects that received cancellation contracts from the Trump administration: Total’s Attentive Energy and Ocean Winds’ Blue Point Wind. The following projects are nearby and at similar stages of development:
- A 3.3 GW community offshore wind farm jointly owned by RWE and National Grid. It’s next to Total’s canceled lease.
- Invenergy’s 2 GW Leading Light Wind is being developed in partnership with energyRE.
- EDF Renewables’ 1.5 GW Atlantic Shores offshore wind farm;
California
The waters off the Golden State’s northern and central coasts have expensive offshore leases and were the location of Ocean Winds’ now-cancelled Golden State wind project. The following projects are in a similar situation.
- RWE’s 1.6 GW floating canopy offshore wind farm is located approximately 32 miles off California’s north coast.
- Invenergy’s 2 GW Even Keel Wind is located approximately 20 miles off the state’s central coast.
- Equinor’s 2GW Atlas Wind, located approximately 90 miles from the state’s central coast.
carolina long bay
In addition to the New York Bay project, Total received about $133 million from the federal government earlier this year to surrender leases off the coasts of North and South Carolina. The company had planned to work with Duke Energy to develop wind power in the area. Next project is nearby.
- Duke subsidiary Synergy’s 1.6 GW project located off Wilmington, North Carolina.
Kelsey Tamborrino and Benjamin Storrow contributed to this report.
Correction: A previous version of this report described Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind as a joint venture with Shell New Energies. Shell withdrew from the project last year.
