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Bruised, not damaged: That’s the message from the US offshore wind {industry} commerce affiliation Oceantic Community. Are they hallucinating? US offshore stakeholders suffered an all however deadly blow from the vengeful pen of President Trump, who abruptly suspended the federal offshore lease program upon taking workplace. However, the winds will blow throughout the waters of the US lengthy after Trump leaves workplace — peacefully — on January 20, 2029, and the {industry} is already gearing up for an additional crack at it.
The US Offshore Wind Trade Is Bruised…
Along with blocking future commitments from the federal offshore lease program, Trump additionally dipped his sticky fingers into tasks already underway. He revoked the ultimate allow for the Atlantic Shores project off the coast of New Jersey, although the ultimate allow was issued months in the past, and remaining usually means remaining. A lot for the sacred phrase of the US authorities. Much more notably, final month Trump additionally ordered the Norwegian agency Equinor to cease work on its the Empire Wind project in New York State, though development was properly underway.
The worldwide powerhouses behind the 2 tasks can write off their losses. It’s not really easy for smaller corporations within the home provide chain, and there are a lot of. The commerce group Oceantic Community calculates that 102 US corporations have (or had) contracts for Empire Wind alone. Positioned in crimson and blue states alike, these 102 companies help (or supported) about 3,500 jobs.
“Empire Wind’s provide chain has introduced greater than $1.6 billion in investments to the U.S. This consists of substantial investments in Texas, South Carolina, Louisiana, Ohio, and Kansas,’ Oceantic Community additionally notes.
…However Not Damaged (But)
Coincidentally or not, each Atlantic Shores and Empire Wind are (or have been) beneath the wing of reliably blue-voting states with Democratic governors. It’s a unique story for the offshore wind {industry} over within the purple state of Virginia, the place Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin nonetheless holds workplace.
Virginia is the host state for the main US power agency Dominion Power, which is greater than midway via development of the huge Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind venture. “Construction on Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW), the largest offshore wind project in the United States, is progressing on schedule,” Dominion affirms on its web site.
CVOW began development with onshore actions in 2023, and the primary six offshore monopiles went into the seabed in Could of 2024. As soon as full, the venture will embody 176 Siemens Gamesa generators with a capability of 14.7 megawatts every, for a formidable complete of two.6 gigawatts.
In March of this yr, Dominion added the primary offshore substation, placing the venture at greater than 55% full and on monitor for commissioning in 2026.
Or, not because the case could also be. If Governor Youngkin’s celebration identification has protected CVOW from the Trump battle axe thus far, the outcomes of the state’s upcoming 2025 gubernatorial election may put the venture in danger. Youngkin is term-limited out of the working. The Democrats have tapped US Consultant Abigail Spanberger to run in opposition to the brand new Republican candidate, and the one Republican who certified for the celebration’s June 17 main election is present Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears.
The US Offshore Wind Trade Refuses To Die, Already
The prospects for an additional Republican crack on the governorship have already dimmed within the aftermath of the drastic federal workforce cuts imposed by the Trump-Musk continuum alongside Trump’s unforced commerce wars and history-making (for all of the improper causes) first 100 days in workplace. Final week, Youngkin added gas to the political dumpster fire by objecting to the presence of John Reid on the poll because the Republican candidate to interchange Earle-Sears as Lieutenant Governor.
If this election cycle seems to be a win for the Democrats in November, it may very well be a loss for Dominion and CVOW. In any case, Trump has made a behavior of ripping up contracts and rampaging via the pages of the US Structure like a rabid ferret in a bathtub of Cool Whip. Development timeline or not, CVOW may very well be stopped in its tracks.
On its half, Dominion seems to be ready to take its lumps. Within the firm’s Could 1 earnings name, reported intimately by the information group Hart PowerDominion Power CEO Bob Blue indicated that whereas a shutdown of the offshore project could be extremely unlikely, the corporate is ready for the worst.
“During the call, an analyst asked what the company would do if the administration ordered CVOW to halt construction,” Hart Power reported. “Blue said the company would have to evaluate the facts and circumstances.”
On the plus facet, Blue asserted that CVOW is “the fastest way to get 2.6 gigawatts on the grid.” He cited tech firms, protection and safety installations, and shipbuilding among the many key industries supported by CVOW, together with 2,000 jobs. “Stopping it would cause energy inflation,” he emphasised.
By no means Give Up, By no means Give up
Politically talking, one other attention-grabbing twist in Virginia’s offshore wind journey cropped up on April 28, when Governor Youngkin joined with offshore wind stakeholders to rejoice the official begin of development on a serious new subsea cable manufacturing unit. Positioned in Chesapeake, Virginia, the brand new facility comes beneath the wing of LS GreenLink USA, a department of the main Korean agency LS Cable & System.
The brand new facility represents “a substantial investment in the American supply chain that will supply submarine power cables for domestic and international offshore wind projects for a projected global capacity of more than 380 GW of offshore wind by 2030,” Oceantic Community enthused in a press assertion.
The timing of the groundbreaking ceremony was notably notable as a result of it highlighted the multi-day 2025 Worldwide Partnering Discussion board hosted by Oceantic in Virginia, which billed the occasion as “the largest offshore renewable energy conference in the Americas.” That’s a moderately daring transfer contemplating the hostile atmosphere for offshore wind within the US, however Oceantic shouldn’t be backing down. The group is already planning subsequent yr’s convention in New York.
“Today’s groundbreaking for LS GreenLink’s Chesapeake cable facility marks a pivotal moment for Virginia and America’s national offshore wind supply chain,” added Oceantic president and CEO Liz Burdock.
The explanation for optimism shouldn’t be notably obscure, and it’s not hallucinatory. The US has accrued many years of expertise and belongings within the offshore oil and fuel discipline. A significant portion of these assets and know-how have already transferred over to the offshore wind discipline. None of that’s going away. If all goes in keeping with plan, the home wind {industry} can maintain key elements of itself by courting demand for offshore wind parts elsewhere across the globe.
As Burdock said, the $700 million LS funding within the new cable facility represents the “global industry’s commitment to the U.S. market, creating hundreds of long-term American jobs and manufacturing American-made energy components for the pipeline of domestic and international offshore wind projects.”
“Thanks to the leadership of Dominion Energy, support from Governor Youngkin and other elected officials, and cornerstone supply chain investments like this, Virginia is rapidly emerging as a premier offshore wind hub in the U.S.,” Burdock emphasised.
What do you assume, is Burdock dreaming? Or is Oceantic merely counting down the 1,358 days remaining in Trump’s second and remaining rampage via the US authorities.
Picture: The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind venture has been spared from the Trump chopping block for now, and offshore stakeholders are already anticipating an industry-wide comeback (courtesy of Dominion Power by way of CleanTechnica archives).
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