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Will offshore wind turbines fall silent under President Trump?
With the inauguration of Trump 2.0 now two weeks away, many uncertainties are facing producers and consumers of energy in the States, with implications for maritime companies servicing the sector.
3 Min Read
Credit: Pixabay
New leasing activity in the offshore wind sector is likely to hit a pause button shortly after the new administration comes in incoming US President Donald Trump has said as much while for leases already approved during the Biden years- the prospects are still mixed.
In the waters of the “New York Bight”, the 810 mW Empire Wind 1 project continues to move forward. Equinor, in full control of the project following its acquisition of bp’s 50% stake, has announced that it has, “now secured a project financing package of over $3 billion. Financial close was reached at the end of December 2024.”
The utility, which took Final Investment Decision (FID), on the project in mid-2024 at which time a power purchase deal was reached with New York State , said that: “Equinor intends to farm down in the Empire Wind 1 project to a new partner to further enhance value and reduce exposure.”
An important aspect of the project- with “expected capital investments” of approximately $5 billion overall, is the landside development of the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, a one-time intermodal transfer location, as a staging area for the project.
In New England waters, farther to the north, negative currents have been swirling around another project Vineyard Wind 2, which has not seen final approvals by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM.
Its developer, Vineyard Offshore, is an entity backed by mega-investor Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP). The project, with plans to sell 1.2 gW of power to multiple states in the Northeast, has been thrown off course due to Connecticut’s intention not to purchase 400 mW of output. This, in turn, caused Vineyard Offshore to step back from discussions with the adjacent state- Massachusetts, on the sale of 800 mW of output.
The timing of Vineyard Offshore’s decision increases Vineyard Wind 2’s vulnerability, should the parties re-group and get together on their power purchase arrangements, to whatever actions- unknown at this time, that the incoming Trump administration might take. This project was set to utilize a terminal under development in New Bedford (an old whaling port) in conjunction with Foss Marine; the terminal is set to be utilized for construction, and maintenance, by other offshore wind projects in the region.
A different project, previously approved and actually producing electricity since early 2024, was in the news this past summer. At Vineyard Wind 1 a fiberglass blade manufactured by GE Vernova on a 13 mW Haliade-X turbine snapped. This June, 2024 mishap brought about a partial pause in turbine installation; the monopiles, towers and nacelles were placed in position, but blade installation was put on hold. In December, after detailed review and inspections of manufacturing facilities- installation of blades has now resumed.
Vineyard Wind 1 is served by numerous US offshore service vessels and a recent posting by the American Waterway Operators notes that: “the Vineyard Wind 1 project off the coast of Massachusetts uses a US-built, crewed, and flagged Service Operation Vessel (SOV), the Cade Candies, from the Gulf of Mexico. The same project is also using tugs and barges, the Nicole Foss and the Foss Prevailing Wind, to bring offshore wind components out to the site. But it is not just those vessels. Guice Offshore’s GO Liberty and Coast Line Transfers Capt. Les Eldrige are also supporting the construction. The SEACOR Hawk is helping commission Vineyard Wind 1’s offshore substation, and the Hornbeck Mystique is installing the transmission cables.”
On the legal side, Vineyard Wind 1 is now benefitting from favourable court decisions in December, 2024, overcoming a pair of legal challenges from the fishing industry. These cases had been filed against the Department of the Interior, which oversees BOEM that approves offshore wind leases, and had alleged numerous violations of numerous Federal statutes, including the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Rivers and Harbors Act (RHA).
Resource - court decision on Vineyard Wind 1
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