Good!
The industry needs paralyzing.
Trump Paralyzes the U.S. Wind Power Industry
The president, who despises wind turbines, has paused federal permits and leasing for such projects, putting company plans in limbo
By Jennifer Hiller, WSJ
Feb. 23, 2025 10:00 am ET
President Trump has America’s wind-energy industry at a standstill.
Developers are delaying some projects and writing down the value of investments. Plans are hanging in limbo.
During his campaign, Trump directed fierce criticism to offshore wind projects, which he promised to “end on day one.” His first wave of executive orders included a pause for federal permits and leasing for wind projects on land and at sea.
“We aren’t going to do the wind thing,” Trump told his supporters Jan. 20, twirling a finger in a circle to indicate the rotation of a turbine blade. “Big ugly windmills, they ruin your neighborhood.”
Since the election, TotalEnergies has shelved a planned offshore wind energy development for four years. Oil giant Shell took a $1 billion impairment, more than half of which was for an offshore wind project. Orsted, a major offshore wind developer, recorded a $1.7 billion impairment on its U.S. offshore wind business and slashed its capital investment plans through 2030 by a quarter.
While work continues at projects that had already started construction on land or offshore, confusion about what happens next has overtaken the industry.
Developers are awaiting clarification on a number of fronts, said Scott Wilmot, senior analyst at Enverus Intelligence Research.
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Most land-based wind projects are located on private property, but often require federal permits. That process leaves the administration many chokepoints.
Many developers need an Army Corps of Engineers permit, and they discuss potential projects with U.S. Fish and Wildlife and might require permits from that agency, too. The Bureau of Land Management sometimes grants rights of way for interconnection to the electric grid. The Federal Aviation Administration has to be notified about tower locations because of turbine height and lighting requirements.
Trump’s executive order included a review of existing leases and a temporary halt of the Lava Ridge Wind Project in Idaho, the only development mentioned by name and one of a handful of wind projects planned on federal land.
Sen. Jim Risch, a Republican from Idaho, said he pushed for Lava Ridge’s halt in a one-on-one discussion with Trump a week before the inauguration. “He gets it,” Risch said. “It’s not a hard lift because he shares my reticence about windmills.”
The controversial project would be located near the site of a World War II internment camp for Japanese-Americans. The Bureau of Land Management had approved a scaled-down version of Lava Ridge in December that would be farther away from the historic site, though it has continued to face fierce local opposition. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum will review the decision and “as appropriate, conduct a new, comprehensive analysis,” the executive order said.
Risch said he thinks Burgum will agree with him on Lava Ridge, but can’t predict the ultimate outcome of the broader pause on permitting.
“We’ll get through this stuff. But remember we’re at a point where government has changed,” Risch said. “The tide is moving away from things like a huge multitrillion-dollar New Green Deal, away from DEI and going in a different direction.”
LS Power, the Lava Ridge developer, declined to comment.
Wind accounted for about 10% of large-scale U.S. electricity generation in 2023, according to the Energy Information Administration. Most of that comes from land-based projects.
Beyond permitting confusion, the industry faces potential cuts to tax credits included in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. Trump has called the IRA a scam.
Between the election and Dec. 31, developers anticipating a possible tax change speeded up work on projects, including ordering equipment or starting work at sites. Those actions can prove that construction had started, which would safeguard access to existing tax credits even if projects are completed later under a different tax regime.
Such work will keep developers busy for months, said David Hindman, head of power, utilities renewables at AlixPartners. But companies also need to start assembling land and permits for the next round of projects.
“All parties—developers, financers, others—are going to want to have more certainty than we have now,” Hindman said.
Ocean-based wind projects faced challenges before the Trump administration. Global supply-chain snags, rising interest rates and inflationary pressures made projects far more expensive to build in recent years. Several developers had to renegotiate financing agreements.
Still, around four gigawatts of offshore wind projects were under construction along the East Coast by the end of the third quarter, according to the American Clean Power Association.
Frank Macchiarola, chief advocacy officer for American Clean Power, said the industry group wants to ensure that projects under construction and in advanced development can continue. “They’re providing a key benefit to our economy already,” he said.
The offshore wind supply chain stretches to states such as Louisiana, which has 38 companies with supply contracts, including shipbuilding and vessel support, according to the Oceantic Network, which tracks the industry.
Otto Candies III, chief executive of Otto Candies, a Louisiana marine transportation company founded by his grandfather, said the firm is one of several in the state that have seen offshore wind as a way to diversify beyond their traditional oil and gas clientele. Candies has two vessels working on wind projects in the Northeast.
Candies said he understands the administration taking a “good, disciplined look at what’s moving ahead,” but hopes the offshore wind industry can continue. “As a supplier, the more markets that there are for us to work in, the better that is for our industry and the better it is for our employees,” Candies said.
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