Saving Seafood

VIRGINIA: Virginia Beach offshore wind farm has started producing electricity

March 26, 2026 — Dominion Energy’s wind farm off the Virginia Beach coast sent its first batch of power to the regional electric grid on Monday, the company confirmed.

The $11 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, or CVOW, stretches from about 27 to 44 miles off the Oceanfront and will be the nation’s largest commercial offshore wind farm.

The first fully completed turbine began spinning this week, generating just under 15 megawatts of power, enough to cover about 3,675 homes. The energy moves through undersea cables that connect with onshore transmission infrastructure at State Military Reservation in Virginia Beach.

“This marks another major milestone for the project, adding much-needed electricity to help serve the fastest-growing power demand in the country,” spokesperson Jeremy Slayton said in an email.

Read the full article at VPM

NORTH CAROLINA: Wind farm deal off Wilmington coast canceled. Here’s why.

March 26, 2026 — With the political climate, at least in Washington, working against it, a French energy giant has cut a deal with the Trump administration to cancel its offshore wind lease off Southeastern North Carolina for investing an equal amount in fossil fuels.

The agreement by TotalEnergies is another move that brings into stark question the chance of any wind farms rising in the waters off the Cape Fear coast − at least in the short term.

It also is another front opened by the White House on the future of offshore wind, an energy source that President Trump, a Republican, has vocally criticized since his first term in office.

“The Trump Administration is spending nearly $1 billion in taxpayer money to pay off a company to stop investments in the clean energy we need,” N.C. Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, said on a social media post. “This is a terrible deal for the people of North Carolina and our country.”

Read the full article at Star News Online

 

Trump administration’s $1B deal to stop offshore wind shows an evolution in its anti-wind strategy

March 25, 2026 — The Trump administration’s $1 billion payout to a French energy company to walk away from U.S. offshore wind development is a novel tactic against the industry that supporters see as creative — but opponents see as foolish and extreme.

The Interior Department announced Monday that TotalEnergies agreed to what is essentially a refund of its leases for projects off the coasts of North Carolina and New York, and will invest the money in a liquefied natural gas export terminal in Texas and other fossil fuel projects instead. The department hailed it as an “innovative agreement” with the French energy giant so that the “American people will no longer pay for ideological subsidies that benefited only the unreliable and costly offshore wind industry.”

The tactical shift comes after federal courts have thwarted President Donald Trump’s efforts to stop offshore wind through executive action.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the payment “sets a dangerous precedent and is a shortsighted misuse of taxpayer dollars.”

Robin Shaffer, president of the anti-offshore wind group Protect Our Coast New Jersey, applauded what he called “out of the box” thinking. Shaffer said after losing in the courts, the administration needed a way to take back leases that never should have been issued because of the harm offshore wind development causes to the marine environment.

Read the full article at The Associated Press

Trump administration to pay French company $1B to walk away from US offshore wind leases

March 24, 2026 — The Trump administration will pay $1 billion to a French company to walk away from two U.S. offshore wind leases as the administration ramps up its campaign against offshore wind and other renewable energy.

TotalEnergies has agreed to what’s essentially a refund of its leases for projects off the coasts of North Carolina and New York, and will invest the money in fossil fuel projects instead, the Department of Interior announced Monday.

President Donald Trump’s administration has tried to halt offshore wind construction, but federal judges repeatedly overturned those orders.

The Interior Department hailed the “innovative agreement” with the French energy giant and said, “the American people will no longer pay for ideological subsidies that benefited only the unreliable and costly offshore wind industry.″

Environmental groups denounced the deal as an alternate way to block wind projects, with one group calling it a “billion-dollar bribe” to kill clean energy.

Read the full article at The Associated Press

Haskin Lab Strengthens Oyster Industry Through Research and Collaboration

March 20, 2026 — The Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory has played a central role in supporting New Jersey’s oyster industry through decades of research, collaboration, and science-based management. Since 1953, the lab has worked closely with the Delaware Bay oyster industry and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Division of Fish and Wildlife to address challenges affecting oyster populations and to help sustain this vital natural resource.

The partnership began when the industry sought assistance in identifying the causes of declining oyster stocks in 1953. In response, the Haskin Lab established annual population surveys of oysters in Delaware Bay. These surveys continue today and provide the scientific foundation for managing the fishery and supporting a sustainable harvest. Over time, and with external expert review that includes NJDEP scientists and active oyster harvesters, the lab has helped guide the development of a sustainable oyster fishery recognized as a leading model both regionally and nationally.

A key component of this success is the use of a “total allowable catch” approach, which differs from many shellfisheries that rely on license limits or shortened harvest seasons. This method allows for more precise, science-based management of the resource while balancing ecological sustainability and industry needs.

Read the full article at Rutgers University

Vineyard Wind 1 completes turbine installation after court ruling

March 17, 2026 — After a reprieve from a U.S. Department of Interior suspension in December, the offshore wind company Vineyard Wind 1 installed the last of its turbine blades on Friday.

“With the installation of the final blades, Vineyard Wind completed its offshore construction program. Vineyard Wind continues to deliver power to the New England grid,” said Vineyard Wind spokesman Craig Gilvarg in an email to the Times on Monday.

The last shipment of turbine blades for the $4.5 billion Vineyard Wind 1 project headed to the site south of Martha’s Vineyard last week.

The project had been in danger of stalling when the Trump administration in late December issued a stop-work order.

Read the full article at Cape Cod Times

Construction finishes on a major offshore wind farm, the first during Trump’s tenure

March 16, 2026 — Construction is finished on a major Massachusetts offshore wind farm, the first project to reach this stage during President Donald Trump’s time in office.

Offshore construction was completed Friday night on Vineyard Wind with the installation of the final blades, Craig Gilvarg, a spokesperson for the project, said Saturday.

Trump, who often talks about his hatred of wind power, has said his goal is to not let any “windmills” be built. Vineyard Wind was one of five major East Coast offshore wind projects the Trump administration halted construction on days before Christmas, citing national security concerns. Developers and states sued, and federal judges allowed all five to resume construction, essentially concluding that the government did not show that the national security risk was so imminent that construction must halt.

Another one of the five, Revolution Wind, began sending power for the first time to New England’s electric grid on Friday and will scale up in the weeks ahead until it is fully operational.

Revolution Wind, a key offshore wind project and object of scorn for Trump admin, comes online

March 16, 2026 — A large offshore wind project off the coast of Connecticut and Rhode Island that was repeatedly stopped by the Trump administration came online Friday evening, sending clean energy to New England’s power grid.

The project, known as Revolution Wind, is nearing the end of construction and will ultimately generate up to 704 megawatts of electricity — the equivalent of powering 350,000 homes. That’s about 2.5% of New England’s electric supply. Construction on Revolution Wind is expected to be completed later this year.

“This project is key to diversifying our energy supply and lowering utility costs for families and businesses,” said Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont in a statement.

“Today’s milestone marks an important step forward for Rhode Island’s energy future,” Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee said in a statement.

Read the full article at nhpr

MASSACHUSSETTS: Vineyard Wind’s last turbine blades shipped from New Bedford

March 11, 2026 — The last shipment of turbine blades for the $4.5 billion Vineyard Wind 1 project left New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal on March 10.

Mayor Jon Mitchell said, “The deployment of the final major components of the  Vineyard Wind project represents the closing argument of the case we have been making for years: that New Bedford is well-suited to be a center of the offshore wind industry. No matter when the next projects are ready to proceed, we and our many partners have shown that the industry can successfully compete and operate projects from here while working cooperatively with the fishing industry.”

Gordon Carr, New Bedford Port Authority executive director, said, “Today’s final shipment of Vineyard Wind turbine blades from the Port of New Bedford represents an important milestone, not only for this project, but for the role our port has played in this process over the last few years. New Bedford Harbor has shown it can be a critical marshalling and logistics center for large projects while continuing to support our world-class fishing industry.”

Read the full article at the Standard-Times

U.S. Offshore Wind Projects Report Progress After Resuming Offshore Work

February 26, 2026 — Three of the five offshore wind projects under construction in the northeast U.S. have each signaled this week strong progress. It comes after each project received preliminary injunctions against the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which had imposed stop-work orders in late December.

Speaking to investors on February 25, the executives of Iberdrola, one of the partners in Vineyard Wind 1 off the coast of Massachusetts, said as far as they are concerned, the project is complete. Executive Chairman Ignacio Galan said as an engineer, he sees the project as completed while confirming that 60 of the 62 wind turbines are now fully installed. CEO Pedro Azagra added that the project is between 80 and 85 percent operational, with between 52 and 55 of the turbines exporting electricity to the grid. They reported that the final two turbines would be installed in the coming days.

Reports have said the wind turbine installation vessel was contracted only until the end of February. It will need to depart promptly for its next assignment.

Speaking to investors earlier in the week, the executives of Dominion Energy also highlighted progress on the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project near Virginia Beach. They said the progress on fabrication is excellent, with around 70 percent of the towers and 30 percent of the blades fabricated, which tracks well with the schedule.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive