By Mark Jaffe, EUCI energy writer
The Trump administration opposition to offshore wind projects and continuing supply chain issues has ground the U.S. sector to a near halt with only a handful of projects completed or working toward completion.
“The U.S. offshore wind power industry today effectively consists of just seven projects in the Northeast and MidAtlantic,” according to bond rating agency Morningstar.
Through the use executive orders and tariffs on key materials, the Trump administration has tried to thwarts projects.
However, a January 2025 executive order freezing offshore wind projects was ruled by a U.S. District Court to be “arbitrary and capricious” and exceeded the president’s authority.
The administration also spent $2.6 billion in incentives to companies with U.S. Outer Continental Shelf leases to abandon their projects.
TotalEnergies canceled the leases for a 3-gigawatt (GW) project off New York and its 1.2-GW Carolina Long Bay project off North Carolina.
Bluepoint Wind agreed to cancel the leases for its project off the coasts of New Jersey and New York. Golden State Wind withdrew the leases for its floating offshore wind power project in the early stages of development off California’s central coast.
“Moreover, the Trump administration is not planning any more offshore wind power lease auctions, leaving new project development on hold for the duration of President Trump’s second term,” Morningstar said in its sector assessment.
There are just seven projects left in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, including three that have completed construction and four in the construction phase.
The first offshore wind project in the U.S. was the Block Island Wind Farm, which was commissioned in December 2016. The 6-megawatt (MW) project is nearly four miles off the southeast coast of Block Island, Rhode Island, and was developed by Deepwater Wind.
The South Fork Wind project was completed March 14, 2024, and was the first commercial-scale offshore wind project with a 132-MW capacity from 12 Siemens Gamesa 11-MW turbines.
The project is about 35 miles east of Montauk Point, Long Island, nine miles east of Block Island. The wind farm is jointly owned by Ørsted and Skyborn Renewables.
The 806-MW Vineyard Wind 1 project went into commercial operation on April 24, 2026, and is about 35 miles south of mainland Massachusetts and 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.
Avangrid Renewables, (which is owned by Spanish renewable energy and electric utility company Iberdrola, S.A. through a U.S. subsidiary) and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners P/S jointly own the project.
Recurring operation issues has reduced Vineyard Wind 1’s output with repair and remedial work ongoing to deal with the issues, including sensors that repeatedly trip causing turbines to shut down.
Vineyard 1 also suffered an accident with catastrophic damage when a 351-foot blade from a GE Vernova turbine snapped off during testing in July 2024. An investigation determined a manufacturing defect that led to replacing nearly all the installed blades. Vineyard Wind 1 won a recent lawsuit against GE Vernova.
There are still four offshore wind farm projects under construction.
The largest is the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project with 176 turbines and a projected 2.6 GW capacity. CVOW is about 27 miles off the coast of Virgina Beach and is slated to go into full operations in 2027.
Jointly owned by Dominion Energy and Stonepeak, the project began delivering power to the Virginia grid in March 2026.
The Revolution Wind’s 704-MW project about 15 miles south of Point Judith, Rhode Island, is expected to be in full operation by the end of 2026. Ørsted and Skyborn Renewables jointly own the project, which began delivering electricity to the grid in March 2026.
The Sunrise Wind project, approximately 30 miles of Montauk Point, is set for completion in 2027. Owned by Ørsted, the 924-MW project will provide New York with enough power for about 600,000 homes.
The Empire Wind 1 project is also projected to be fully operational in 2027.The 810-MW project, some 15 miles south of Jones Beach State Park in Long Island, is owned by Equinor ASA. The project will consist of 54 Vestas 15-MW turbines that will provide power to New York.
With the completion of those four projects, Morningstar said, the future of the sector is uncertain.
“The outlook for the U.S. offshore wind power sector through 2028 remains challenging, despite continued progress in completing projects already in the construction phase,” Morningstar said. “Unfavorable macroeconomic factors and a federal policy against offshore wind power provide strong headwinds.”
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