By Mark Jaffe, EUCI energy writer
The Trump administration has waged a war on wind energy, slowing its development with laws, executive orders, federal regulations, trade policy, and cash buyouts, but it has not been able to blunt all wind development and has suffered legal setbacks.
“The financial and operational performance of the U.S. wind power sector has long been influenced by federal policy,” according to a report by investment analyst Morningstar.
“The Trump administration continues to oppose wind power, instead prioritizing fossil fuel energy such as natural gas, which the U.S. can produce at low cost and scale for reliable baseload energy production,” the analysis said.
Unfavorable federal policy combined with tariffs, loss of tax credits, and project disruptions are undermining project economics and investor confidence, leading Morningstar to maintain “a negative outlook” for the sector.
The Trump administration has agreed to pay about $2.6 billion to developers to abandon approved and in some cases, already built projects.
Still, the U.S. wind sector rebounded in 2025 adding 8.2 gigawatts (GW) of capacity – a 49% year-over-year increase – and is forecast to reach 11 GW in 2026, according to a Wood Mackenzie market report.
The report projects 48 GW of new wind capacity through 2030, with 2026 set to deliver the strongest installation year in five years. Almost all of the capacity will be on land. Offshore development has been the Trump administration’s main target.
In December, U.S. District Court Judge Patti Saris ruled a January 2025 executive order by President Donald Trump freezing wind projects was unlawful, “arbitrary and capricious” and exceeded the president’s authority.
On June 10, the administration dropped its appeal to the Saris ruling overturning the executive order.
In a separate case, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on June 6 voided an August 2025 treasury rule that made it difficult for wind and solar projects to qualify for federal tax credits.
Nevertheless, the administration continues to oppose wind development.
“Federal policy volatility under the current administration continues to weigh on investment confidence, particularly for offshore wind,” consultant Wood Mackenzie said in a report.
And Morningstar said “stop-work orders, legal battles, and funding cuts have delayed or jeopardized multiple large-scale offshore wind power projects, even as some resume construction or reach completion.”
The Trump administration has also used tariffs to stifle the offshore wind power industry by imposing levies on turbines and other key materials needed for projects.
There are about three dozen offshore wind leases including projects nearing completion and in operation. The administration said it will not issue any more leases.
While trying to block wind projects, the administration is hoping cancelled projects and buyouts will lead developers to redirect investment to natural gas and oil infrastructure projects, Morningstar said.
In March 2026, the Trump administration paid TotalEnergies $928 million to cancel its leases for its 3-GW wind project off the New York coast and its 1.2-GW Carolina Long Bay project off North Carolina.
The payment reimbursed TotalEnergies the amount it paid the U.S. Department of Interior for the offshore leases with the French energy company now making the same investment in a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility in Texas, upstream conventional oil production in the Gulf of Mexico and shale natural gas production.
TotalEnergies also signed a letter of intent to take two million tons of LNG a year from a planned Alaska LNG project and pledged not to develop any new offshore wind projects in the U.S.
In April 2026, there were two more settlement agreements cancelling offshore wind power leases. Bluepoint and Golden State Wind agreed to terminate their offshore wind power leases in exchange for nearly $900 million.
Bluepoint was an early-stage project off the coasts of New Jersey and New York. Golden State Wind was a planned floating offshore wind power project off the California coast.
As part of the settlement agreements, companies agreed not to pursue any new offshore wind power projects in the U.S.
In June, Chicago-based Invenergy agreed to end its four offshore wind leases – all in the early development stage – in exchange for reimbursements of lease fees totaling $765 million.
All those terminations decisions were made by developers in the face of a steady stream of opposition starting five days after Trump began his second term with the executive order freezing wind projects on January 25, 2025.
It was that executive order that was overturned in December.
Then in July, the tax legislation, H.R. 1, known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” sunset tax credits that have been key to wind and solar development.
In April, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued a stop work order to the Empire Wind 1 project, an 810-MW offshore wind power farm off Long Island, New York.
“In August 2025, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy withdrew or terminated a total of $679 million in funding for port projects and other infrastructure that would have helped the U.S. establish a domestic supply chain for offshore wind power development,” Morningstar said.
BOEM in August also ordered Orsted to halt construction on Revolution Wind, a 704-MW offshore project off the coasts of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, even though it was fully permitted and approximately 80% complete.
The Internal Revenue Service also issued, in August, its rules that made it more difficult to qualify for the wind and solar tax credits before they expire in 2030. It is these rules the federal district court in Washington, D.C. voided.
“President Trump’s opposition to offshore wind power has introduced significant regulatory uncertainty, further undermining investor confidence and tightening access to capital,” Morningstar said.
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