Unwinding the Morass that is U.S. Offshore Wind
In the last decade, changing U.S. Administrations have become increasingly tumultuous, as the swings in priorities and directives have a real, material impact on business. Read on for insights on the current and future of U.S. Offshore Wind.
In the weeks preceding his late January inauguration, then President-elect Donald Trump referred to wind turbines (both onshore and offshore) as “garbage in a field” and described electric power produced through offshore wind as “…the most expensive energy ever…”
In the same briefing, Trump said “We’re going to try to have a policy where no windmills are being built.” In those waning days of the Biden administration, reports were emerging that New Jersey congressional Representative Jeff van Drew (Republican in U.S. House, representing a district including parts of the Jersey Shore) was drafting language for an “Executive Order”, subsequently signed by President Trump, halting U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) activity on offshore wind for at least six months, while a detailed study of its impacts would take place. New leasing of tracts on the Outer Continental Shelf (which precedes any development on projects) would be stopped completely.
Political appointments drive the leadership of Bureau of Offshore Energy Management (BOEM, part of DOI) which oversees the offshore leasing process. Indeed, the DOI (under Trump appointee Doug Burgum ) can certainly stymie BOEM’s labyrinthine approval process for the components of projects previously given the green light. The law firm Holland & Knight (H and K), in a Feb 2025 advisory, said that: “President Donald Trump's Wind Energy executive order (EO) indefinitely withdraws all areas of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) from any new or renewed wind energy leasing activity. Though existing offshore wind leases remain valid, they are subject to review with the possibility of terminating or amending those leases.”
The approvals process is a multi-year affair with twists and turns around environmental, site assessment and construction plans. Consider the lengthy times involved in of SouthCoast wind (which was given an “OK to proceed” in the waning days of the Biden administration, at end 2024) The project’s winning lease sale bid, submitted by predecessor company Mayflower Wind, had occurred six years earlier-in late 2018. Initial requests for expressions of interest from potential bidders in the lease sale date back another eight years- to 2010, 14 years prior to the final go-ahead! All going well, starting in 2027, 2.4 GW of electricity could be produced from this project in waters south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Lawyers at H and K, writing about the impacts on the approvals process, generally, caution that “Federal agencies cannot issue new approvals, rights of way, permits, leases or loans for onshore or offshore wind projects pending a comprehensive assessment and review of federal wind leasing and permitting practices, with no clear timeline for when this may occur.”
When actual legislation is pointed at offshore wind, Executive Orders are not sufficient to change the trajectory. Offshore wind investment benefits greatly, on the financial side, from the Biden-driven Inflation Reduction Act, of 2021 (the IRA). A report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) explains: “The primary federal tax provision supporting offshore wind is the energy investment tax credit (ITC). It provides a 30% tax credit for offshore wind projects that begin construction before January 1, 2026.” The CRS report adds that: “Section 13502 of the IRA provides a new tax credit for the domestic production of wind components and related goods such as specialized offshore wind installation vessels. For offshore wind vessels, the credit is 10% of the sales price.” Congressional action, in the form of new legislation, is required to undo provisions already in the law,” H and K explains.
Image source Ørsted
In the week following the Inauguration (and Executive Orders), a Project Finance publication from the international law firm Norton Rose stated: “Many people have been asking whether the freeze on disbursements affects tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act. It does not. Tax credits are allowed by statute. They cannot be rescinded or denied by executive order. Any rollback would require action by Congress.” In the same advisory, Norton Rose contemplated a different angle, musing that: “Many of the backers of the US offshore wind projects are large foreign-owned utilities and oil companies that have spent tens to hundreds of millions of dollars on the projects. If such projects were ultimately cancelled, some could have claims under bilateral investment treaties.”The one time goal of “30 by 30” (30 GW of wind generated electricity by 2030) is being dramatically sliced. On Jan. 21, 2025, one day after Trump’s inauguration and the flurry of Executive Orders, analysts Rystad Energy offered that: “The US currently has around 2.4 GW of advanced-stage offshore wind developments that have reached final investment decision and are under construction, which are unlikely to be impacted by the order. Moderate risk amid the unfavorable investment climate is present for 10.5 GW of projects which secured necessary permits but have not reached investment decisions. The remaining 25 GW of early-stage projects are unlikely to see any progress under the
A number of projects that had not yet gained BOEM’s imprimatur were completely scuttled in 2023 and 2024, due to purchasers of electricity being unable to commit due to rising costs and the inability of developers to successfully rebid. The long list of cancelled projects is well known; most recently, in early February, 2025, Shell pulled the plug on participation in the Atlantic Shores Offshore wind project (a joint project with EDF Renewables that had aimed to produce 2.8 gW of electricity), causing the State of New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) to cancel the bidding process for a pending offshore wind solicitation.
Image source C-Innovation
Though the Biden years had seen forward progress on offshore wind (where project development times might be half a decade, or longer, as noted), actual activity in the sector, was still in its nascent stages. A presentation by the trade group Oceantic pegged the electricity actually being produced at end 2024 in commercial projects at 310 MW (a subset of the 2.4 GW in Rystad’s reckonings). Not surprisingly, the politics surrounding offshore wind are complicated. The offshore service industry generally benefits from actions friendly to offshore oil and gas activity – and applauded Trump’s Executive Order “Unleashing American Energy”, setting the stage for a reversal of Biden moves to stymie leasing and development on the Outer Continental Shelf. But offshore wind has also presented opportunities for participants. Oceantic, in a November, 2024 presentation (held at an American Bureau of Shipping event in New Orleans) highlighted the importance of offshore wind to U.S. yards and vessel operators, pointing to $1.8 billion of “vessel orders and shipyard upgrades”. Though existing production represents a small fraction of the 2.4 GW of electricity which Rystad sees as highly probably moving forward, the benefits to U.S. flagged offshore service vessels are already apparent.
Consider the Vineyard Wind 1 project in waters south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, producing electricity since early 2024; a look at MarineTraffic.com, or other ship tracking websites, shows a cluster of service vessels. An end-2024 article by Jennifer Carpenter (President and CEO of American Waterway Operators, or AWO) and Ann Reynolds (Vice President at American Clean Power Association), appearing on the Real Clear Energy website, described the action succinctly: “the Vineyard Wind 1 project off the coast of Massachusetts uses a U.S.-built, crewed, and flagged Service Operation Vessel (SOV), the CADE CANDIES, from the Gulf of Mexico. The same project is also using tugs and barges, the NICOLE FOSS and the FOSS PREVAILING WIND, to bring offshore wind components out to the site. But it is not just those vessels. Guice Offshore’s GO LIBERTY and Coast Line Transfers CAPT. LES ELDRIDGE are also supporting the construction. The SEACOR HAWK is helping commission Vineyard Wind 1’s offshore substation, and the HORNBECK MYSTIQUE is installing the transmission cables.”
Other projects are seeing Jones Act compliant vessels deployed; Revolution Wind (Ørsted and Eversource), though employing a host of non U.S. vessels, is seeing Edison Chouest’s 2024 built ECO EDISON, described as “…first-ever American-built, owned, and crewed offshore wind service operations vessel (SOV)…” onsite; it is also slated for work at South Fork Wind (already producing 132 mW) and another project with construction set to commence in 2025- Sunrise Wind (off the eastern tip of Long Island). In an Ørsted release following the SOV’s christening in May, 2024, Gary Chouest, President of Edison Chouest Offshore was quoted saying: “… several of our vessels supported the construction of the first utility-scale offshore wind farm, South Fork Wind Farm…” In the mid-Atlantic, Dominion Energy linked 2.6 gW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) will utilize the U.S. built Wind Turbine Installation Vessel (WTIV) CHARYBDIS, which saw a milestone in February 2025 with sea-trials commencing following construction at the Keppel AmFELS yard in Brownsville, Texas.
The Trump Administration actions might be viewed against the bigger picture surrounding wind power from the waters off the U.S. coasts; existing projects are moving ahead, albeit tortuously, towards Rystad Energy’s amalgam of 2.4 GW (highly probable) and 10.5 GW (moderate risk). Vineyard Wind 1 (the project where AWO detailed the vessel line-up) actually began producing electricity in early 2024 but slowed down mid-year due to issues with faulty turbine blades. These were resolved later in the year; the project also saw favorable court decisions in December, 2024, overcoming a pair of legal challenges from the fishing industry. Another project, In the waters of the “New York Bight”, the 810 MW Empire Wind 1, continues to move forward after New York State committed to a power purchase deal. Equinor, in full control of the project (following a Spring, 2024 deal with oil major bp- previously holding a 50% stake), announced at end 2024 that it had “…now secured a project financing package of over $3 billion.” At CVOW, monopile installation has been ongoing in 2024 and will continue into 2025 as CHARYBDIS comes online.
Source American Offshore
Even though Jones Act vessels have achieved some penetration into the wind sector, many of the boats working projects are registered outside of the United States. This situation (with undertones related to national security) has rankled operators of suitable Jones Act compliant vessels, who have, in some cases, struggled to compete with low cost foreign crewing.One group representing vessel owning stakeholders, The Offshore Marine Service Association (OMSA), has had a long-standing interest in oil and gas, but has more recently become involved in wind as its members deployed their boats into the Northeastern waters. In a letter to its membership, OMSA described the Trump administration’s Day 1 pause on new wind leasing as: “… a critical opportunity to reassess the industry’s direction.” In a statement circulated on Day 2 of the new administration, OMSA asserted that: “It’s time to reset and prioritize American jobs and vessels…” OMSA’s President, Aaron Smith, stated: “By addressing these systemic issues, we have an opportunity to ensure that offshore wind is delivering on its promise by creating jobs for American mariners, supporting U.S. shipyards, and reinvesting in the American economy.”
During the Biden years, as offshore wind was gaining traction, OMSA had supported the American Offshore Worker Fairness Act legislation (AOWFA, introduced into the 118th Congress, in late 2023, by Louisiana’s Senator Bill Cassidy as S.3038). The aim of the proposed legislation (which sought to amend portions of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act dealing with vessels working offshore) was to ensure that foreign flagged vessels working in U.S. offshore waters, including those serving offshore wind projects, employ American mariners or crew from the country where the vessel is registered- rather than employing workers from low-wage nations. The legislation as it was proposed, would have required these foreign mariners to comply with background check requirements applicable to U.S. mariners- including holding TWIC cards.
The jury is out on whether a resurgence in offshore oil and gas related exploration and production will occur and pull U.S. assets back into those trades. OMSA, based in New Orleans, is not objecting to offshore wind, per se, but, as projects move into their implementation phases, the organization hopes that the “benefits” flow back to the U.S. work force. “While offshore wind offers tremendous potential for economic growth and job creation in the U.S., OMSA agrees that over-reliance on foreign renewable energy companies, foreign vessels, and foreign mariners to build American offshore wind farms undermines these benefits and is deeply problematic,” OMSA said in its January 21 statement.