A Whirlwind of Opposition Unleashed Against Offshore by Trump Administration
The winds of political change are certainly not moving offshore, at least in the United States.
The Trump Administration’s new assault on offshore wind, including moves against projects both in permitting phases or already under construction and nearly completed, is gaining fearsome speed as September rushes in.
Multiple news reports say that U.S. regulators, pushed by President Trump, are targeting several offshore wind projects for rejection or at least delay. The latest report focused on plans to revoke previous approvals for the New England Wind and SouthCoast offshore wind projects, both off the coast of Massachusetts.
These latest moves to reverse the progress of those offshore wind project developments follow a recent stop-work order by a branch of the Department of the Interior last week against Revolution Wind. Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) initiated the halting of Revolution Wind despite its previous approval and the fact that developers Ørsted and Skyborn Renewables had completed 80% of construction off the coast of Rhode Island.
Altogether, New England 1 and 2, Southcoast and Revolution Wind were designed to provide carbon-free electricity to more than one million customers in the eastern coastal states.
Why are they being thwarted by the Trump Administration, which has at the same time has cited a “national energy emergency?” Well, it’s no secret that Trump has promoted his opposition to offshore wind since the early days of his second term in January, pausing new leasing and permitting for wind energy on public lands. He is clear on his preference for baseload-type fuels such as natural gas, nuclear and even coal.
The reasons publicly given for these shutdown orders vary from national security to health concerns for wildlife and the sight of “big, ugly windmills,” according to the president’s own words.
For the past 10 years, both U.S. onshore and offshore wind gained momentum with some 5.2 GW installed last year, according to Wood Mackenzie’s US Wind Energy Monitor report. The same forecast, however, severely downgraded the U.S. wind outlook for the next five years due to sun-setting of production tax credits and the Trump Administration’s recent moves.
Meanwhile, offshore wind is flourishing around much of the rest of the world. The European Union has installed about 20 GW of offshore wind and plans to grow that to 350 GW by 2050.
China is now the leader in global offshore wind, rising from only 5 GW in 2018 to nearly 43 GW this year, according to the Global Energy Monitor report.
Many of these countries say that a desire for energy independence is at the root of their work to expand offshore wind energy.
About the Author
Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor
Managing Editor
For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].
Rod Walton has spent 17 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.
Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World.
EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023
Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.