Two more offshore wind developers cave into Trump, to invest refunds of cancelled projects in oil and gas

United States president Donald Trump’s war on renewable energy has gained two more scalps this week after the government announced that the developers behind two major offshore wind projects had agreed to abandon their leases and redirect their investments towards oil and gas.

Having rolled back renewable energy tax credits and sought to halt all offshore wind project construction, Trump’s administration has now struck upon a new tactic to prop up their attacks on the renewable energy industry.

In March, the US Interior Department announced that it had signed a deal with French energy giant TotalEnergies in which the company forfeits their 4 gigawatts of offshore wind leases near North Carolina and New York, and agrees to re-direct the sizeable fees ($US928 million) into new two new fossil fuel projects.

This week, another two more offshore wind farm leases were rescinded, with the respective developers also committing to reinvest the reimbursed money into new oil and gas assets.

They include the 2.4 GW Bluepoint Wind project off the coast of New Jersey and New York, a 50/50 partnership between Ocean Winds (OW) and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP); and Golden State Wind, a floating offshore wind project off California with a capacity of up to 2 GW, a joint venture between OW and Reventus Power.

The Interior Department continued to frame their actions as an effort to “promote US energy security and affordability”, describing offshore wind technology as an “intermittent, higher-cost” energy source and “impractical to develop” without relying on taxpayer subsidies.

“The companies that bid for these offshore wind leases were basically sold a product in 2022 that was only viable when propped up by massive taxpayer subsidies,” claimed Doug Burgum, secretary of the interior.

“Now that hardworking Americans are no longer footing the bill for expensive, unreliable, intermittent energy projects, companies are once again investing in affordable, reliable, secure energy infrastructure.”

Spokespeople from Global Infrastructure Partners and Ocean Winds praised the administration’s “commitment to pragmatic outcomes” and “the clarity they have provided with this decision and deal.”

Global Infrastructure Partners, a part of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, will invest up to $US765 million into a new US based liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility.

Similarly, the developers behind Golden State Wind will “be eligible to recover approximately $120 million in lease fees after an investment has been made of an equal amount in the development of U.S. oil and gas assets, energy infrastructure, and/or LNG projects along the Gulf Coast.”

It’s worth noting that none of the offshore wind leases were ever deemed to have been issued improperly and each came only after extensive assessment by a range of government agencies.

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