Offshore wind energy development in America is teetering on the verge of collapse after the Trump administration's Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told an energy conference in Italy this week that it has no future as a source of electricity generation in the United States.
This latest missive by Burgum follows speculation by renewable energy executives last month that the Trump administration’s attacks on solar and wind will lead to a power crunch that increases electricity prices.
Burgum’s declaration that offshore wind energy has no future in America follows an order from the U.S. authorities on 22 August for Danish renewable energy company Orsted to halt construction of the 704MW offshore wind project, after citing national security concerns.
Dubbed Revolution Wind, the Orsted project – which is 80% complete and has had all necessary approvals since 2023 – is capable of powering more than 350,000 homes.
Orsted, which, together with partner Skyborn Renewables, has already invested $5 billion in Revolution Wind, may end up facing a double-digit billion-dollar write-down and $1 billion in breakaway costs from existing contracts if the project never supplies electricity to the U.S.
Orsted has since appealed to the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to have the halt construction order overturned.
The Danish government owns a 50.1% share in Orsted, which last month saw its share price plunge to record lows after the stop-work order was enforced.
“Right now, under this administration, there is not a future (for wind projects),” Burgum told an audience at the Gastech conference in Milan on Wednesday.
“I think the fact that subsidies have either been cut or limited means that it is unlikely that offshore wind energy will be built in America.”
According to Burgum, offshore wind has no future due to being too expensive and too unreliable.
While Trump barred new leases for offshore wind farms on his first day in office, the executive order was framed as “temporary”.
The subsequent review of offshore wind farm permits ordered by Trump gave the industry hope that projects under construction would be allowed to move forward.
Orsted is understood to be one of five offshore projects currently under construction that the Department of the Interior is “taking a deep look” at right now.
However, given that Burgum oversees the leasing and permitting of offshore wind farms in U.S federal waters, his latest statements suggest the Trump administration is now unequivocal in its plans to shut down the nascent offshore wind industry in the U.S.
In addition to Orsted, the offshore wind farms under construction include Rhode Island, Vineyard Wind 1 off Massachusetts, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, Sunrise Wind off New York, and Empire Wind also off New York.
“Yes, they were permitted but they got moved through a very fast ideologically driven permitting process,” noted Burgum earlier this week.
In April, the Interior Department ordered that work be stopped at Empire Wind, a $5 billion wind farm off the coast of New York that had received all necessary approvals from the Biden administration and was already being built.
After several weeks of negotiations with Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat of New York, the administration allowed Empire Wind to proceed.
However, White House officials suggested they had done so only after Hochul agreed to approve new gas pipelines in the state.
Meantime, while the Trump administration is in discussions with Orsted and New England governors on Revolution Wind, Burgum wouldn’t say that the project might restart work.
“I can’t say for certain because some of these projects are a literal train wreck in terms of their economics,” Burgum recently told the media.
“If we were to complete them then we’re just locking in billions and billions of taxpayer money which might be going to a hedge fund.”
