TotalEnergies Abandons U.S. Offshore Wind Market

---

Written by Daniel Graeber for IIR Energy Intelligence (Sugar Land, Texas)

---

Summary

The Trump administration reimbursed the French supermajor for payments made to secure the rights to develop offshore windfarms. Instead, the company will focus on fossil fuels.

---

Company Gets Nearly $1 Billion to Ditch Wind

TotalEnergies will no longer have a footprint in the nascent U.S. offshore wind energy industry after reaching a deal with the government to forfeit plans for the Atlantic.

TotalEnergies in a press release Tuesday said it signed a settlement with the U.S. Department of the Interior to forfeit leases awarded in 2022 to develop wind energy off the coast of the Carolinas and New York.

"As a result, TotalEnergies will no longer develop offshore wind projects in the United States," the company stated.

The New York Times and others on Monday reported that the Justice Department would give TotalEnergies back the $928 million it paid to secure the leases during President Joe Biden's tenure. The Times claimed in an exclusive report last week the government was mulling the deal and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Monday at an energy conference in Houston that wind energy was unreliable.

"The era of taxpayers subsidizing unreliable, unaffordable and unsecure energy is officially over, and the era of affordable, reliable and secure energy is here to stay," he said.

The Times added the arrangement was an "extraordinary transfer" of U.S. taxpayer dollars to a foreign company to abandon clean energy developments.

"This deal is an outrageous misuse of taxpayer dollars to prevent Americans from having clean, affordable power exactly when they need it most," said Ted Kelly, the director of the Environmental Defense Fund, in a separate statement.

By the Numbers

• 12-MW facility started the same day TotalEnergies left the sector
• $928 million handed back to TotalEnergies

Offshore Developments Continue Nevertheless

On the same day, however, Dominion Energy said it was delivering energy to the grid from its Coastal Virginia Offshore Windfarm (CVOW).

CVOW is a 12-megawatt (MW) facility off the coast of Virginia. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Oil & Gas Project and Plant databases can learn more about CVOW--including capacities, investment values and necessary equipment--in a detailed plant profile.

The Revolution Wind facility off the coast of Rhode Island, meanwhile, is 90% completed and the state government said it expected the plant to be sending energy to the grid by the middle of the year.

"Offshore wind is part of our state's all-of-the-above energy strategy, one that strengthens our energy supply and supports long-term reliability for residents and businesses," Governor Dan McKee said last week.

Subscribers can learn more about Revolution Wind from a detailed list of project reports.

Wind energy developers had sued the federal government over stop-work orders, including for Revolution Wind. The U.S. Department of Defense in late December said it found national security risks in classified reports related to offshore wind. As a result, Burgum suspended operations for five offshore windfarms in various stages of development.

Senior Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in January said there was a month between when the Pentagon revealed its concerns and when the Department of the Interior issued its suspensions and overturned the stop-work orders.

TotalEnergies to Focus on U.S Oil and Gas

For TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanne, the head of the company, said the reimbursed funds would be used instead to support construction of the Rio Grande LNG facility planned for Texas.

"These investments will contribute to supplying Europe with much-needed LNG from the U.S. and provide gas for U.S. data center development," he said in a statement. "We believe this is a more efficient use of capital in the United States."

Rio Grande is supported already by offtake agreements with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, TotalEnergies and Saudi Arabian Oil Company.

Subscribers can view a detailed list of project reports on the Rio Grande LNG facility and the plant profile.

The Interior Department added that TotalEnergies also would commit to enhancing offshore oil production and shale natural gas production.

Key Takeaways

• TotalEnergies takes the money and runs
• Offshore wind energy is still progressing

---

About IIR News Intelligence
IIR News Intelligence is a trusted source of news for the industrial process and energy markets, powered by Industrial Info Resources' Global Market Intelligence (GMI).

About Industrial Info Resources
Industrial Info Resources (IIR News Intelligence) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 250,000 current and future projects worth $30.2 trillion (USD).