Trump administration pays French company $1 billion to abandon wind farms
The Trump administration will pay $1 billion to a French company to abandon two U.S. offshore wind leases as the administration steps up its campaign against offshore wind and other renewable energy.
TotalEnergies agreed to what is essentially a refund of its leases for projects off the coasts of North Carolina and New York, and will instead invest the money in fossil fuel projects, the Interior Department announced Monday.
The Trump administration has tried to stop offshore wind construction, but federal judges overturned those orders. Environmental groups denounced the TotalEnergies deal as an alternative way to block wind projects. President Donald Trump has opted for fossil fuels, which he says are the way to reduce costs for families, increase reliability and help the United States maintain global leadership in artificial intelligence.
TotalEnergies had already halted its two projects after Trump’s election.
TotalEnergies pledged not to develop any new offshore wind projects in the United States. The CEO of TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanné, stated in a statement that the company gave up the development of offshore wind energy in the United States in exchange for the reimbursement of leasing fees, “considering that the development of offshore wind projects is not in the interest of the country.”
Pouyanné said the refunded lease fees will finance the construction of a liquefied natural gas plant in Texas and the development of its oil and gas activities, calling it a “more efficient use of capital” in the United States.
After making those investments, TotalEnergies will receive a refund, up to the amount paid on offshore wind lease purchases, according to the DOI.
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“We welcome TotalEnergies’ commitment to developing projects that produce reliable, affordable energy to reduce Americans’ monthly bills while providing secure baseload power in the U.S. today and into the future,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement.
The Biden administration sought to boost offshore wind energy as a solution to climate change. Trump began rolling back U.S. energy policies from his first day in office with executive orders aimed at boosting oil, gas and coal. Globally, the offshore wind market is growing, with China leading the world in new installations.
The Trump administration halted construction on five major offshore wind projects off the East Coast days before Christmas, citing national security concerns. The developers and states sued, and federal judges allowed the five to resume construction, essentially concluding that the government failed to prove the risk was imminent enough to stop construction.
On Monday, one of the administration’s targeted wind farms, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, began supplying power to Virginia’s grid. The developer, Dominion Energy, announced the milestone.
Environmental groups criticized the TotalEnergies deal. The Natural Resources Defense Council said it is reckless to halt projects designed to reduce energy costs.
Ted Kelly, clean energy director at the Environmental Defense Fund, said the proposed agreements “are an outrageous misuse of taxpayer dollars to prevent Americans from having clean, affordable energy exactly when they need it most.”
TotalEnergies purchased a lease for its Carolina Long Bay project in 2022 for approximately $133,000. Their goal was to generate more than 1 gigawatt there, enough to power about 300,000 homes. It purchased the lease off New York and New Jersey, also in 2022, for $795,000. It was planned as a larger project, with the potential to generate 3 gigawatts of clean energy to power almost a million homes.
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News writer Matthew Daly contributed to this report from Washington.