Trump's Dislike for Wind Energy Scuttles Offshore Turbine Farm

Donald Trump's inauguration is more than a month away, but his looming second term as president is already sending a chill through New York's effort to green its electric grid.

The French energy giant TotalEnergies SE has halted the development of a wind farm it plans to build off the coast of New York in the face of Trump's vow during the recent campaign to target wind energy on his first day in office. In light of that vow, Crain's reports, TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne announced at a recent energy conference in London: “Offshore wind, I have decided to put the project on pause.” The project would have provided enough clean energy to power 3 million homes.

The move by the French company is one of the first tangible signs of a halt in investment in renewable power sources due to the incoming administration. More are sure to follow as the second Trump administration ramps up fossil fuel production and scales back many of the green initiatives of the Biden administration.

Trump's opposition to wind energy is both longstanding and less than entirely logical. As The Washington Post reported, Trump finds wind turbines “disgusting-looking,” “noisy” and “bad for people’s health." He has claimed they “threaten the migration of birds,” are “bad for the environment” and “cause tremendous damage to their local ecosystems.” They are “a scourge to communities and wildlife.” They kill so many birds, he adds, that they “make hunters look like nice people.” 

President Joe Biden vowed to create an offshore wind industry in the U.S. to reach 30 gigawatts by the end of the decade. Soaring costs and supply chain issues have made reaching that goal unlikely. Earlier this year, for instance, New York State contracts for three major offshore wind farms fell apart because a turbine manufacturer, General Electric Vernova, scaled back plans to build equipment the projects relied on. 

These developments are being watched by New York City co-op and condo boards and other building owners as they strive to slash their buildings' carbon emissions to comply with the city's Local Law 97. A prime strategy for meeting emission goals has been to abandon fossil fuel-powered building systems in favor of electric-powered heat pumps and other technologies, in the belief that the state's electric grid will be powered increasingly by renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuels. That belief is now under question.

The good news is that the threat is not likely to be permanent. TotalEnergies says it could revive the offshore wind project in New York if a more environmentally friendly administration takes office in the the future. Pouyanne says: “I said to my team, the project in New York, we’ll see that in four years." The "advantage," he adds, is that the Trump presidency will last "only for four years.”