In a decidedly pragmatic pause, French energy firm TotalEnergies SE has shelved plans for an expansive offshore wind farm off New York's coast, responding to the shifting political winds ushered in by president-elect Donald Trump. Announcing this strategic decision at a London energy conference, Total's CEO Patrick Pouyanne stated, "Offshore wind, I have decided to put the project on pause" with Trump's ascent to power, as Crain's New York cited.
Trump, who has previously targeted the renewable energy sector, campaigned on rolling back the green industry and is expected to launch executive actions against it. Analysts speculate that the President-elect would likely halt offshore wind lease sales and put permitting new ventures under stringent scrutiny, this putting a pause to projects like Total's Attentive Energy initiative. Signaling broader hesitation within the industry, Timothy Fox, a managing director at ClearView Energy Partners, anticipated such hesitations, saying to Bloomberg, "Amid the changing political landscape, we are not surprised to see a developer pause an offshore wind project that’s in the preliminary stages of development."
Previously, President Joe Biden had set an ambitious target for the U.S. to reach 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power by decade's end, a goal made challenging by rising costs and supply chain difficulties. With new projects like Total's requiring federal consent, advancement under Trump's administration may witness substantial suppression. Poised to provide power for over 3 million homes, Total’s Attentive Energy acquisition of seabed rights in 2022 held a promise rapidly dimmed in today's political climate.
Holding onto its lease, Total retains a chance to reboot this green endeavor post-Trump. Despite the pause, Pouyanne envisioned a temporal limit to the setback, telling his team, "the project in New York, we’ll see that in four years," as per Pouyanne's words during the energy conference, as Crain's New York reported, ushering hope that the project's dormancy is but a four-year slumber.
