US offshore wind farms try to withstand the force of Trump’s wrath
Companies are racing to finish projects that can keep the industry alive in the face of high-profile opposition
US offshore wind companies are racing to bring projects online that can withstand Donald Trump’s efforts to cripple the multibillion-dollar industry.
After winning a clean sweep of legal victories over the past month, the industry is redoubling efforts to get projects over the finish line so they can start producing power and develop the financing and supply lines needed to keep the sector afloat until Trump leaves office.
“The vibe is more positive,” said Abby Watson, president at Groundwire Group, a consulting firm. “You can’t ask for better evidence than producing electrons at a time when people are panicking about not having enough electrons.”
In December, the Department of the Interior shut down five projects under construction on the east coast, citing national security concerns beccause of radar interference. Each project sued and was given permission to restart construction while the underlying legal challenges continue, in a series of district court cases spanning January and early February.
Judge Royce Lamberth of the District of Columbia found the government’s reasoning was “arbitrary and capricious”, in the case of Ørsted’s $6.2bn Revolution Wind project off the coast of Rhode Island.
Now developers such as Dominion Energy, whose 2.6 gigawatt project off the coast of Virginia is due to start producing power before the end of March, are “laser focused” on completion, according to a source close to the company. Revolution Wind is expected to power up “within weeks”, according to the company, while its other project, Sunrise, will produce its first power in the second half of the year.
While Trump has attacked a wide range of clean energy technologies since taking office for the second time in 2025, none have experienced the administration’s wrath like offshore wind, which the president has described as the “worst”.
In response, the industry has engaged in negotiations and lobbying, often with the help of Republican politicians, which led to the reversal of previous stop work orders. The strategy has since shifted to using legal action to buy as much time as possible for the projects to come online and prove their worth.
“The [government’s] whole theme was, ‘we have national security, so we win’. Fortunately no judge bought it,” said Janice Schneider, a partner at Latham and Watkins, who represented Revolution Wind.
“In terms of what’s next . . . we’ll be ready to go.”
Industry and state leaders are also planning a sweep of measures to ensure projects can access funding and shore up the supply chain.
Speaking at the International Partnering Forum on Tuesday, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority President Doreen Harris said the state had pledged $300mn to prepare ports for offshore wind development and announced a request for information on how the state can prop up the industry amid attacks from Washington.
“We know that the market has been tested in ways that we could not have anticipated in just one year,” she said, adding that “one potential approach is to take co-investment in these projects.”
The industry is also looking north of the border to sustain itself while Trump scuppers development in the US.
Tim Houston, premier of Nova Scotia, pitched his province as a safe harbour for developers and suppliers to do business in.
“We are a predictable and reliable regulatory jurisdiction,” he said.
The province is gauging industry interest in bidding on tracts of its ocean, as part of its “Wind West” initiative, which aims to develop up to 60 gigawatts of offshore wind energy for use and export.
But some fear the industry could still be stopped in its tracks and risks total investment and supply chain collapse.
The positive sentiment is “optimistic but not realistic,” said Juan Gabriel Sanchez, a business development manager at Jan De Nul group, the Belgian offshore energy company.
The administration has signalled it will continue using the courts and its own authority to disrupt projects, running up costs for developers further. Dominion said in its filing that the delay was costing it $5mn per day, while Revolution and Sunrise Wind accrued $1.44mn and $1mn in daily losses.
On Wednesday, interior secretary Doug Burgum pledged to “absolutely” appeal the decisions that allowed the projects to continue construction.
The projects “represent real national security risks”, Burgum told Bloomberg News. “As we get into court and share classified information, there will be further discussions on this.”
The industry was locked in a “perpetual battle”, said Joshua Weinstein, a managing partner at Global Business Alliances LLC. “You have an administration that’s hell-bent on fighting this particular energy technology — seemingly for no reason.”
Investment in new offshore wind is projected to collapse, with BloombergNEF cutting its 2035 forecast by 85 per cent after Trump’s election, and predicting the delay or cancellation of $114bn of investment.
Suppliers say they are turning their focus to markets outside the US.
“We are concentrating in Europe and other places which will pick up this year like Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan,” said Tomas Fertig, vice-president of business development at Entrion Wind, which develops offshore wind foundations.
“I don’t think the [US] market is dead, but it will be in a couple of years.”