Four US Offshore Wind Projects Seek Regulatory Pauses Due to Uncertainties

 

The offshore wind energy industry in the United States continues to face challenges with four project developers each filing in the past few days to pause their state-level regulatory reviews. The developers are reported to be citing “uncertainties” in the U.S. market or seeking to create protections based on potential future actions by the Trump administration.

Donald Trump placed the industry under review after returning to the White House. He has repeatedly spoken against the industry citing assertions that it was not economically viable. He ordered the Department of the Interior to review the process and ordered a halt to future permitting during the review. This came after the Biden administration completed the review of several projects late in 2024 and early 2025.

Massachusetts officials confirmed that negotiations with both Avangrid’s New England Wind 1 and SouthCoast Wind which is being developed by a partnership between EDP Renewables and ENGIE had not yet completed their power purchase agreements. The deadline was March 31, but for the third time they have failed to complete the deals, twice since Trump returned to the presidency. The companies have set a new deadline of June 30 with a target for late August to present the deals to Massachusetts.

Both projects are working to set new agreements after the developers in 2023 canceled prior purchase agreements due to changing costs. The joint venture OceanWinds paid a fine of $60 million while Avangrid paid $42 million to terminate the power purchase agreements. 

Media reports indicate the companies are seeking to build protections into the new agreements against potential changes in policy from the Trump administration. The media is writing that state officials have said Trump’s opposition is “making it difficult” to complete the power purchase agreements. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management approved the construction plan for New England 1 in July 2024 and SouthCoast in January 2025. Massachusetts reselected both projects in September 2024 for power agreements.

Additional uncertainty came as the town of Nantucket filed an appeal against BOEM’s approval for SouthCoast. They filed a suit in U.S. District Court claiming that the review did not consider the full impact and how the project would hurt the town’s tourism industry. Additionally, a local activist group is challenging the Environmental Protection Agency calling for a reassessment of permits for New England Wind 1 as well as other projects.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities last week also withdrew consideration for Attentive Wind’s project planned for 42 miles off the central New Jersey coast. The Press of Atlantic City newspaper is reporting the development. The indication is that developer Attentive Wind is seeking a one-year extension for a $37.3 million payment as part of the state approval process. 

Maine’s Public Utilities Commission last week also reported that it was suspending negotiations with Mitsubishi which is working on the Pine Tree Offshore Wind project. It is part of a research project to develop a floating offshore wind array for the Gulf of Maine. The commission wrote in its order that Mitsubishi requested the pause citing “recent shifts in the energy landscape that have in particular caused uncertainty in the offshore wind industry.”

Anxiety over the status of the U.S. industry was further increased when in March a court permitted the EPA to withdraw a permit for the Atlantic Shores project in New Jersey.  The permit related to the installation of the offshore wind farm and the move reversed actions by the Biden administration to clear the project for construction.

Several other U.S. projects that were already underway are continuing despite the uncertainties created by the Trump administration.