A first-of-its-kind deal killed two offshore wind projects and reinvested the funds in fossil fuels. The next day, the nation’s largest offshore wind farm started delivering power.
A first-of-its-kind deal killed two offshore wind projects and reinvested the funds in fossil fuels. The next day, the nation’s largest offshore wind farm started delivering power.The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind pilot project consists of two turbines off the coast of Virginia Beach.
Once complete, the offshore wind farm will consist of 176 turbines for an operational capacity of 2.6 gigawattstwo wind farms off the coasts of New York State and North Carolina—to abandon the projects and invest the funds in oil and gas instead. Rumors of the dealTotalEnergies’ acceptance of the payout is a blow to the industry, but far from a fatal one. Just one day after the DOI announced the deal, the largest offshore wind farm in the U.S. began operations. “Today, delivered its first power to the grid—right on schedule,” Dominion Energy CEO Robert Bluein a LinkedIn post on Tuesday. “This achievement marks another important step forward, adding much‑needed electricity to help meet the fastest‑growing power demand in the country.”Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind is a 2.6‑gigawatt, 176-turbine offshore wind project off the coast of Virginia Beach. In February, Dominion—the developer—reported that construction is more than 70% complete, and Blue said Tuesday that the project remains on track for completion in early 2027. When CVOW is fully operational, it will generate enough clean, renewable energy to power up to 660,000 homes, according to Dominion. The company claims the wind farm will save customers $3 billion in fuel costs during its first decade of operations. Dominion primarily serves residents of Virginia and the Carolinas, where the AI boom is driving a major surge of data center growth. As of December 2025, Virginiaall five projects to proceed, and despite the pause, CVOW still delivered its first power to the grid on schedule.TotalEnergies’ offshore wind projects—Attentive Energy in the New York Bight and Carolina Long Bay off the coast of North Carolina—will never reach that milestone. The company’s deal with the Trump administration requires it to renounce both leases, which together cost $928 million. According to the DOI’s statement, TotalEnergies will now invest the value of its renounced offshore wind leases in U.S. oil and natural gas production. Following that investment, the administration will reimburse the company “dollar-for-dollar, up to the amount they paid in lease purchases for offshore wind.” “Considering that the development of offshore wind projects is not in the country’s interest, we have decided to renounce offshore wind development in the United States, in exchange for the reimbursement of the lease fees,” Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of TotalEnergies, said in a statement. This refund-and-reinvest deal is the first of its kind. It signals a major shift in the Trump administration’s efforts to pivot the U.S. energy sector away from renewables. Its new strategy forgoes regulatory opposition in favor of financial incentives. While TotalEnergies won’t profit directly from the deal, it recouped its lease costs and likely avoided a costly legal battle by scrapping the projects. We can expect the administration to pursue more deals like this as it fights to strengthen the fossil fuel industry—at the expense of public health and the environment. But as CVOW comes online and more projects keep advancing, the offshore wind industry is gaining momentum.9:42 amEarly Wildfires Are Surging Across the US—and Trump’s New Fire Agency Isn’t Ready A brutal wildfire season is about to put Trump’s Wildland Fire Service to the test, with the safety of millions of Americans on the line.A Major Offshore Wind Farm Just Finished Construction. Trump Is Already Plotting a Counterattack Vineyard Wind is the first offshore wind farm to finish construction under Trump. The administration is now weighing a billion-dollar deal to stop the next one.
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