Offshore wind power remains in the crosshairs of US President Donald Trump’s administration, which continues its policies aimed at eliminating renewable energy sources in favor of absolute support for fossil fuels.
America is seeking to halt the remaining offshore wind projects on its territory by offering financial packages to developers in exchange for investments in fossil fuels.
During his second term, which began on January 20 (2025), Trump directed his support to fossil fuel projects that he says will reduce energy bills for households, enhance energy security, and help Washington maintain global leadership in artificial intelligence.
The US president quickly moved to erase the climate policy pursued by his predecessor Joe Biden, most notably offshore wind energy, by issuing executive orders to ban the issuance of licenses while continuing to support oil, natural gas and coal.
The Interior Ministry halted construction work on five major offshore wind energy projects on the East Coast days before Christmas, justifying its position with national security concerns, according to the specialized energy platform.
In response, developers and states filed lawsuits against the halt to the projects, and federal judges allowed construction to resume on the five projects, concluding that the government had not proven that the risks were imminent enough to warrant a halt to construction.
Offshore wind power
The Ministry of Interior held talks with several companies that have lease agreements in offshore wind energy in order to persuade them to activate deals similar to those recently agreed upon with the French company Total Energy, according to informed sources.
Under that agreement, Total Energy will receive nearly $1 billion that it had spent on an offshore wind energy lease, and will instead invest the money in oil and gas projects.
The US plans represent a new phase in the Trump administration's battle against offshore wind energy, which the Republican president has previously described as "the worst and most expensive source of energy."
Efforts to halt offshore wind projects in the United States have had mixed results; pressure from the Trump administration played a role in halting the Beacon Wind farm – a joint venture between British oil company BP and its Japanese counterpart Jera – last October.
But a series of “stop construction” orders issued by the Trump administration against offshore wind energy projects being developed by Denmark’s Ørsted, the US’s Dominion Energy and Norway’s Equinor were overturned by court rulings following lawsuits filed by those companies.
Threat to national security
Donald Trump claims that offshore wind energy projects pose a threat to US national security due to the use of radar equipment in those projects.
The government's strategy has shifted towards offering incentives to companies to encourage them to abandon their projects, some of which cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and redirect those funds to fossil fuel projects.
There are 43 offshore wind energy leases in force off the coast of the United States, according to estimates reviewed by the specialized energy platform.
There are also five offshore wind energy leases for projects in the final stages of construction or already producing electricity, such as Ørsted's Revolution Wind and Dominion Energy's Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind.
Leasing companies
The list of companies leasing offshore wind energy projects includes a consortium of Portugal’s EDP and France’s Engie, which has a $120 million offshore wind energy lease in California.
The list also includes Chicago-based independent energy producer Invenergy, which has four offshore wind leases on the East and West coasts of the United States, including a site near New York that it acquired with EnergyRe for $645 million.
German energy company RWE paid $1.1 billion in 2022 to secure an offshore wind lease off the coast of New York, with the potential to host enough turbines to generate electricity to meet the needs of 1.1 million homes.
RWE also paid $4.3 million for an offshore wind energy lease in the Gulf of America (formerly the Gulf of Mexico) and $157.7 million for another lease off the coast of California.
Source : Attaqa
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