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US offshore wind farm projects slow as Trump opposition adds to hurdles

April 7, 2025 —  Energy firms have slowed construction of offshore wind farms in the U.S. for various reasons in recent years, including, most recently, opposition from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.

Offshore wind was a key pillar of former President Joe Biden’s promise that fighting climate change will create jobs and invigorate the economy. In 2023 and 2024, however, several offshore wind companies took billions in write-offs, impairments and other cancellation fees after determining they could no longer complete projects profitably due to rocketing construction costs, higher interest rates and supply chain snags.

After Trump suspended new offshore wind leasing on his first day back in the Oval Office in January, several energy analysts said they did not expect any new offshore wind projects other than those already under construction to move forward over the next few years.

There are four offshore wind farms in service and producing power in the U.S., and another four projects under construction that are expected to enter service from 2025-2027. There are also several projects in advanced development.

Recently, some analysts have warned that projects already under construction may not be safe from attacks by the Trump administration.

Read the full article at Reuters

Court case against New England offshore wind approvals can proceed

April 4, 2025 — A sweeping legal challenge to federal agency approvals for an offshore wind project under construction in New England has cleared an initial legal hurdle.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled this week that a number of legal claims could move forward against the Interior Department, NOAA Fisheries and the Army Corps of Engineers for approving the Revolution Wind Farm and the Revolution Wind export cable project in Rhode Island.

The case led by the Green Oceans nonprofit group alleges that the agencies violated a slew of environmental laws — from the Endangered Species Act to the National Historic Preservation Act — when they approved the 65-turbine Revolution Wind project 15 miles off the coast of Block Island. Construction began on the wind farm in 2023 and is projected to be completed next year, when it would provide 304 megawatts to Connecticut and 400 MW to Rhode Island.

Read the full article at E&E News

Biden’s ‘ambitious climate goals’ go down in literal flames by popular American beach

April 4, 2025 — A major part of a first-of-its-kind green energy project, which the Biden administration bragged about, is now lying in ruins and polluting some of America’s beautiful ocean and seashore in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Exclusive images obtained by Fox News Digital show the shattered remains of what is left of an ocean wind turbine constructed by Vineyard Wind in a green energy project touted by the Biden administration.

The turbine was recently struck by lightning and destroyed just months after one of its blades dangerously fell into the Atlantic Ocean, dropping non-biodegradable fiberglass shards into the water, some of which washed ashore, forcing six Nantucket beaches to close.

Read the full article at Fox News

SouthCoast Wind responds to Nantucket litigation against wind farm’s federal approval

April 3, 2025 — SouthCoast Wind is responding to litigation by the Town of Nantucket appealing federal approval of the offshore wind farm planned for waters 20 miles south of the island.

The CEO of SouthCoast Wind, Michael Brown, told CAI the federal review was rigorous with regard to Nantucket’s concerns for environmental and historic preservation.

The wind farm’s parent company, Ocean Winds, remains confident in the thoroughness of the process, he said.

SouthCoast Wind is still awaiting some permits but received its main federal approval in December.

Read the full article at CAI

MAINE: Anti-offshore wind fishing group backed by right-wing money eyes support from Maine towns

April 3, 2025 — Since its founding three years ago, the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association has been a vocal opponent of offshore wind and relied on funding from a right-wing advocacy group connected to one of the most influential conservative activists in the U.S.

Now, the fishermen’s organization known as NEFSA is looking to diversify its revenue sources by asking coastal communities in Maine for financial support.

Jerry Leeman is the founder and CEO of NEFSA. And for the past three years he’s been the star of an advocacy campaign that’s led him up and down the northeast coast to preach against offshore wind.

Sometimes it’s in a banquet room in Rye, N.H., or in one of NEFSA’s slickly produced videos.

“These ridiculous data assessments that are based on little to nothing, we’re doing falsified research. It’s political science. This isn’t real science. Real science is the real observation of what things are,” Leeman said in one of NEFSA’s videos.

That message — and his sharp critiques of offshore wind — have also landed Leeman interviews on FOX News. When a blade from the Vineyard Wind project near Nantucket broke and sent debris onto nearby beaches last summer, Leeman joined a protest flotilla that drew interest from the network’s business channel.

Read the full article at Maine Public

MAINE: UMaine launches floating wind turbine prototype in Trenton

April 3, 2025 — The University of Maine has launched a quarter-scale prototype of a floating wind turbine base that researchers hope will pave the way for commercial-scale wind power development in the Gulf of Maine.

Project officials first sought to float the 380-ton floating concrete base for the prototype from the seaplane ramp at Bar Harbor Airport in Trenton on Sunday, but initially could not get it far enough down the ramp to get it to float when high tide peaked at around noon, according to Bar Harbor Story.

A later attempt, shortly after midnight, was successful, according to UMaine spokesperson Marcus Wolf.

Read the full article at Bangor Daily News

Awash in uncertainty, SouthCoast Wind contract delayed for a third time

April 2, 2025 — No one knew exactly how President Donald Trump’s first-day order halting new offshore wind leases would affect the federal approvals already granted for the SouthCoast Wind project planned south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.

More than two months later, uncertainty still hangs over the 147-turbine wind farm. Which is why SouthCoast Wind and utility companies in Rhode Island and Massachusetts announced Monday a three-month extension to finish contract negotiations — the same day final contracts were set to be executed.

“The multi-state negotiations have been complex and ambitious; now they must also tackle uncertainty presented by federal policy,” Rebecca Ullman, a SouthCoast Wind spokesperson, said in an emailed statement on Monday. SouthCoast Wind is grateful for the continued collaboration with our Massachusetts and Rhode Island partners.”

The new June 30 deadline marks the third delay since Rhode Island and Massachusetts jointly unveiled plans in September to buy power from SouthCoast Wind following a competitive, tri-state solicitation that included Connecticut. The bulk of the power from SouthCoast’s 1,287 megawatts of “nameplate capacity” — 1,087 megawatts — would go to Massachusetts under tentative contracts with its utility companies. Rhode Island Energy was set to buy the remaining 200 megawatts of wind-powered electricity to deliver to the Ocean State’s electric grid.

Read the full article at the Rhode Island Current

MASSACHSUETTS: Trump’s shadow looms as offshore wind price negotiation deadline missed

April 2, 2025 — Negotiators working on contracts for two new offshore wind farms off the coast of Massachusetts say they need more time to strike a deal, yet another sign that President Trump’s anti-wind philosophy is wreaking havoc with the state’s energy plans.

The price negotiations between the state’s utilities and the offshore wind developers, Avangrid and Ocean Winds, were scheduled to wrap up on Monday, but they couldn’t reach a deal in the allotted time and set a new deadline of June 30. Under the updated timeline, the contracts won’t become public until August 25.

The latest delay was the second time since Trump was elected that the two sides have failed to meet a deadline and contract negotiations had to be extended.

Officials for all the parties declined to comment on the cause of the holdups, but a spokeswoman for the Healey administration indicated Trump’s opposition to offshore wind is making it difficult to reach a deal.

Read the full article at the CommonWealth Beacon

Nantucket files legal challenge against SouthCoast Wind

March 31, 2025 — An offshore wind development planned off the Vineyard’s coast has been hit with a legal challenge from the Town of Nantucket, where municipal officials are saying federal regulators failed to address the adverse impacts of the project to the town.

Targeting SouthCoast Wind, the town filed an appeal against the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the federal agency that approves offshore wind projects, on Thursday to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The town argues that federal regulators broke federal laws by not considering the cumulative impact of multiple large offshore wind projects, including SouthCoast Wind, on Nantucket, which is designated as a national historic landmark. They also allege federal regulators and developers did not properly plan mitigation efforts, including “adequate visual simulations.”

“BOEM’s conduct sets a dangerous precedent by weakening the federal government’s review of all energy-related projects, including fossil fuel projects that contribute most to global warming,” William Cooke, an attorney from Cultural Heritage Partners representing Nantucket, said in a press release. “We need to defend federal laws that protect our cultural and environmental resources now more than ever.”

Read the full article at MV Times

Nantucket challenges federal approval of SouthCoast offshore wind project

March 31, 2025 — The town of Nantucket filed an appeal in federal court Thursday, alleging that the SouthCoast Wind project was improperly permitted and will harm the island’s “heritage tourism economy.”

The appeal was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The plaintiffs are targeting the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), claiming it violated federal law by permitting the project.

“While BOEM has admitted that the project will adversely affect Nantucket’s internationally renowned historic district, which powers the Town’s heritage tourism economy, Nantucket alleges that BOEM violated federal law in failing to address those harms before greenlighting the project,” the town said Thursday.

In January, on the last business day of the Biden administration, BOEM announced its approval of SouthCoast Wind’s construction and operations plan. The project is planned about 20 nautical miles south of Nantucket, and includes the construction of up to 141 wind turbines and up to five substation platforms.

Last September, Massachusetts announced its intention to buy 1,087 megawatts of power from the 1,287 megawatt project, with the remaining 200 MW going to Rhode Island.

“Nantucket is a premier international destination for our commitment to preservation,” Town Select Board Chair Brooke Mohr said. “Despite our repeated attempts to help BOEM and the developer find balance between the nation’s renewable energy goals and the protection of what makes us unique, they have refused to work with us and to follow the law. We are taking action to hold them accountable.”

Read the full article at the wbur