Trump’s order won’t halt California’s offshore wind leases. But will it derail the industry?
Many community groups in Morro Bay oppose offshore wind projects. Deep ocean waters off Morro Bay and Humboldt County are leased to energy companies for massive wind farms.
Posted on January 27, 2025
In summary
The president’s order has no immediate effect on offshore wind leases already authorized, including two large areas off California’s coast. But it sends a current of uncertainty through the fledgling renewable energy industry, which relies on federal and state support.
President Donald Trump’s ban on new offshore wind leases won’t halt giant wind farms already planned off California’s coast, but industry officials say the policy shift is a blow to a renewable energy industry still working to gain a foothold.
Environmentalists say the moratorium amounts to “kneecapping” California’s offshore wind projects and puts an important source of clean energy in “mortal peril.” The Biden administration had promoted offshore wind as critical to providing cleaner power and reducing climate-warming greenhouse gases.
“I hereby withdraw from disposition for wind energy leasing all areas within the Offshore Continental Shelf,” which encompasses all federal waters off the United States, Trump wrote in an order on Monday. He said it was effective immediately and temporarily prevents “any new or renewed wind energy leasing for the purposes of generation of electricity or any other such use derived from the use of wind.”
The order has no immediate effect on leases already authorized, including two large areas off California’s coast. Trump wrote that “nothing in this” order “affects rights under existing leases in the withdrawn areas.”
(Reuters) – Companies that committed to investments in U.S. offshore wind infrastructure and supply chains are scrapping their plans as the projects they were meant to serve face huge setbacks, including President Donald Trump’s plan to end federal support. The pullback reflects the trickle-down effect of a dramatic downturn in the U.S. offshore wind industry over the past… Read More
A renewable energy firm has said the political climate is right for a large-scale wind farm off the Devon and Dorset coast. Source Galileo is planning a 2GW project involving at least 100 turbines, which it said could power more than three million homes. On Monday, it announced a deal with Portland Port to service the development…. Read More
California is now only a decade away from its 2035 requirement to use 90% clean electricity, and two decades away from needing to reach 100%. To reach these crucial milestones and realize the full environmental and public health benefits of clean energy, we must scale up the production of renewable energy technologies like solar panels,… Read More
President Donald Trump promised to unleash U.S. energy dominance, but his sweeping executive order targeting wind power puts a pipeline of projects at risk that would generate enough electricity for millions of American homes. The order Trump issued on his first day in office indefinitely paused new offshore wind leases in U.S. coastal waters and halted new permits pending the completion… Read More
The Norwegian government has cancelled plans for another fixed-bottom offshore wind tender in the North Sea due to cost concerns, shifting its focus toward developing floating offshore wind projects. On 10 February, the Ministry of Energy announced that it no longer plans to advertise the Sørvest F later this year, which is an extension of… Read More