Saving Seafood

Another offshore wind firm is seeking a payout as Trump stifles sector

April 27, 2026 — A second French energy firm is pursuing a refund on its U.S. offshore wind leases — and analysts say the trend could spread further, despite major legal questions about the Trump administration’s approach.

Engie, which had been planning three U.S. projects, is in talks with the administration about forfeiting the company’s offshore wind leases in exchange for reimbursement. Engie CEO Catherine MacGregor disclosed the development on April 21, a month after the French oil giant TotalEnergies struck a similar deal for nearly $1 billion with the U.S. Department of the Interior.

“Discussions are ongoing, and we’ll see if an agreement is possible,” MacGregor told reporters at a press meeting in Paris.

“Economically and also in terms of public acceptance, I strongly believe in offshore wind power,” she added. However, ​“One must be able to say that energy policy is stable enough whatever the political color of the government” to continue investing in the clean energy resource.

Read the full article at Canary Media

Offshore wind farms take shape along Rhode Island’s coast, even as Trump wants to stop them

April 24, 2026 — Offshore wind turbines roughly three times the height of the Statue of Liberty were spinning far off the coast of Rhode Island on Thursday, sending clean electricity to the region.

Wind farms are taking shape and operating along the East Coast, even as President Donald Trump seeks to end the U.S. offshore wind industry. He often talks about his hatred of wind power and calls turbines ugly.

The Associated Press traveled roughly 100 miles (161 kilometers) and saw three of the five wind farms in the area. Two of the five are fully operational, two are nearly done, and one is about halfway built.

The first turbines from the Revolution Wind project were clearly visible from about 5 nautical miles away, and can be seen from farther away on clear days. They stretched across the horizon, massive structures evenly spaced in rows, some spinning in the light winds.

Read the full article at WPRI

U.S. is Negotiating to Cancel More Offshore Wind Leases

April 22, 2026 — Executives at the French company Engie confirmed today that they are in discussions with U.S. officials about possibly canceling their offshore wind farm leases. Last month, the administration agreed to reimburse TotalEnergies for its offshore wind leases and hinted it might use the same technique with others, although advocates and lawmakers are questioning the legal authority.

The Trump administration said in March that it had agreed to reimburse TotalEnergies nearly $1 billion it had paid to acquire a large lease in the New York Bight, which was to host two large wind farms, as well as a small property off North Carolina. The administration called it a win, saying the company had agreed to reinvest the money in the U.S. LNG sector, where it has a project underway.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

Offshore wind triumphs over Trump in court, but future projects face delays

April 15, 2026 — The five East Coast offshore wind projects that recently won court victories over the Trump administration have restarted construction, but they make up just a small fraction of Atlantic states’ ambitious plans for offshore wind. And the dozens of projects that have yet to start construction have little chance of advancing while President Donald Trump remains in office.

“If you were going to make the best estimate of what’s going to happen, it would be that no other projects other than these five are going to move forward over the next three years,” said Warren Leon, executive director of the Clean Energy States Alliance, a nonprofit coalition of state energy agencies.

State leaders have been relying on these projects to underpin their transitions to clean electricity and to meet their growing energy needs, largely driven by data centers and artificial intelligence. But Trump’s hostility toward offshore wind has shown the political vulnerability of an industry that operates in federal waters and relies on the government as a landlord.

Trump has opposed offshore wind for years, making false claims that it harms whales, is unreliable and drives up energy costs. He seems to have adopted that stance following the construction of an offshore wind farm near his golf course in Scotland, viewing the turbines as an eyesore.

Read the full article at NC Newsline

Vineyard Wind Sues Turbine Manufacturer To Stop It From Backing Out Of Wind Farm; $4.5 Billion Project In Jeopardy

April 13, 2026 — Vineyard Wind has completed construction of the 62-turbine wind farm southwest of Nantucket, but the future of the project appears to be very much in jeopardy.

Vineyard Wind is suing GE Renewables, the manufacturer of its turbines, to block the company from backing out of the project. Without its partner, Vineyard Wind stated in its lawsuit that the entire $4.5 billion offshore wind project is imperiled.

“GER (GE Renewables) walking away threatens the project’s very survival,” Vineyard Wind’s attorneys wrote in a filing submitted this week to the Suffolk Superior Court. The project’s failure would “leave behind a dormant wind farm graveyard. There is no viable replacement.”

The lawsuit was prompted by GE Renewables (GER) sending a termination notice to Vineyard Wind on February 27, claiming the offshore wind developer had failed to cover more than $300 million in unpaid bills. Terminating those agreements would leave Vineyard Wind unable to operate and maintain its turbines, which run on GE Renewables’ proprietary designs, technology, and software, according to the legal filing.

“Only GER is able to perform the remaining work necessary to bring the performance of the GER turbines up to the capacity and reliability standards required for Vineyard Wind to supply power to Massachusetts consumers,” the offshore wind developer stated in the lawsuit. “Even if it were doable, however, it will be virtually impossible to find a turbine supplier that would be willing to take GER’s place.”

Read the full article at the Nantucket Current

CALIFORNIA: Inside California’s audacious bid to build the world’s deepest floating wind farm

April 9, 2026– Here along the rugged North Coast of California, there’s little to suggest that Humboldt Bay, with its eelgrass, oysters and osprey nests, will soon become a launchpad for one of the most ambitious clean energy projects in state history: a hub for floating offshore wind.

The plan is for major private players to erect hundreds of wind turbines in the bay — each rising as high as L.A.’s tallest skyscrapers — then tow them out to the ocean.

Some experts believe the wind project is critical to California’s goal of 100% carbon neutrality by 2045 and represents a key climate change solution. The state has a target of 25 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by that year — enough to power about 25 million homes — and nearly all of it would come from five lease areas in federal waters near Humboldt and Morro bays.

Yet the technology for wind power that floats — as opposed to standard towers permanently attached to the sea floor — is just emerging, and has never been attempted in waters as deep as the Pacific off Northern California.

It will require innovative engineering even as the state contends with objections from local residents and a federal administration strikingly hostile to offshore wind. President Trump canceled nearly half-a-billion dollars in federal funds for Humboldt Bay’s port project, and has repeatedly tried to block wind projects along the East Coast.

Officials say pulling it off will require a perfect concert of major port upgrades, hundreds of miles of new transmission lines and hundreds of wind turbines. If it succeeds, offshore wind could make up 10% to 15% of California’s clean energy production, complementing solar during key hours when the sun doesn’t shine.

Read the full article at The Los Angeles Times

As offshore wind projects begin operations, cause of Vineyard Wind blade incident remains unknown

March 31, 2026 —  The Biden administration set out to spread 30 gigawatts of offshore wind on the coasts of the United States. While that goal wasn’t reached before President Donald Trump took office, several projects were approved and continued with construction.

Earlier this month, Vineyard Wind off the coast of Nantucket finished construction, The Nantucket Current reported. Shortly after, offshore wind developer Orsted announced that the Revolution Wind project off the coast of Rhode Island began providing intermittent power to New England. This week, the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project off the coast of Virginia Beach began providing intermittent power to the grid, Virginia Business reported.

Despite concerns about the impacts of offshore wind to electricity rates and whales, Biden’s wind projects move rapidly ahead. The federal analysis of what caused a catastrophic blade failure on Vineyard Wind in July 2024 still hasn’t been published.

Read the full article at Just The News

Delaware court clears path for US Wind substation after Sussex, Fenwick lawsuit challenge

March 30, 2026 — A major legal battle over offshore wind in Sussex County has taken a decisive turn in the Delaware Court of Chancery this week.

The Court of Chancery has ruled in favor of the state, clearing the way for a controversial electrical substation tied to the US Wind project and rejecting a lawsuit filed by Sussex County and the Town of Fenwick Island, according to the Delaware Department of Justice.

That lawsuit challenged Senate Bill 159, a law passed in late 2025 after Sussex County Council voted 4-1 in late 2024 to deny a permit for the substation near the Indian River Power Plant.

The proposed facility would serve as the landing point for power cables from an offshore wind farm planned off the Maryland coast, ultimately connecting that energy to the regional grid.

Read the full article at WBOC

Why the US will pay a French company nearly $1 billion to give up wind farm plans

March 30, 2026 — This week, the Trump administration announced it had struck an unusual deal. The U.S. government will pay TotalEnergies, a French power generation company, $928 million to scuttle its plans to build two wind farms off the coasts of New Jersey and North Carolina. Together, the projects could have powered some 1.7 million homes.

The deal represents a new wrinkle in President Donald Trump’s campaign to jettison America’s nascent offshore wind industry, which many environmentalists see as key to reducing the country’s carbon footprint. Mr. Trump has criticized wind power as ineffective and costly, and his administration has tried to curtail wind infrastructure development.

“Offshore wind is one of the most expensive, unreliable, environmentally disruptive, and subsidy-dependent schemes ever forced on American ratepayers and taxpayers,” said Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, in a news release announcing the deal on Monday.

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