Wind energy CEO says company must ‘adapt’ as Trump offers $2 billion to kill offshore wind projects

As the Trump administration considers shelling out billions to shutter offshore wind projects, energy executives are facing the uncomfortable reality that renewable energy may no longer be a viable business in the U.S. 

Earlier this week, Trump’s Department of the Interior said it would pay offshore wind ventures Bluepoint Wind and Golden State Wind a total of $885 million—in what essentially amounts to a refund—to walk away from their respective offshore wind leases. The announcement comes after the administration last month struck a similar $1 billion deal under the same terms with French energy company TotalEnergies, bringing total reimbursements the administration has promised to offshore wind ventures to nearly $2 billion. All three ventures pledged to redirect the money they would’ve invested in wind into fossil fuel projects like liquified natural gas (LNG), oil and gas, and agreed not to pursue any more offshore wind ventures in the U.S., according to the Department of the Interior.

Shuttering these wind projects, which were planned to provide energy to states such as New York, New Jersey, California, and North Carolina, could set renewable energy back years and cost companies years of work for efforts already well underway, say experts. Some leases were still in earlier stages while other offshore wind projects that the administration tried to halt have begun construction.

Yet, some energy executives have said they are just reacting to the new reality of the energy market under Trump, where oil and gas take priority and renewable energy is actively delayed.

“We did not take this decision lightly. But when the underlying conditions in a market change, we must adapt,” Michael Brown, the CEO of Ocean Winds North America, one of the companies participating in both the Bluepoint Wind and Golden State Wind ventures, said in a statement to Fortune.

Speaking about the deal to reporters last month, TotalEnergies’ CEO........

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