French Energy Firm Aborts US Offshore Wind Projects in $1 Billion Agreement with Trump Administration

TotalEnergies Receives $1 Billion Refund for Offshore Wind Leases

The Department of Interior announced that the Trump administration has agreed to pay $1 billion to TotalEnergies, a French energy company, to cancel two U.S. offshore wind leases. The leases were for projects off the coasts of North Carolina and New York. In exchange, TotalEnergies has agreed to invest the money in fossil fuel projects.

TotalEnergies had already paused its two projects after President Donald Trump was elected. The company has pledged to not develop any new offshore wind projects in the United States. The refunded lease fees will finance the construction of a liquefied natural gas plant in Texas and the development of its oil and gas activities.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum welcomed TotalEnergies' commitment to developing projects that produce dependable and affordable power. However, environmental groups have criticized the deal, calling it an alternate way to block wind projects. The Natural Resources Defense Council stated that it's reckless to halt projects designed to bring energy costs down.

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TotalEnergies purchased the lease for its Carolina Long Bay project in 2022 for approximately $133,000. The project aimed to generate more than 1 gigawatt of energy, enough to power about 300,000 homes. The company also purchased the lease off New York and New Jersey in 2022 for $795,000, which was planned as a larger project with the potential to generate 3 gigawatts of clean energy to power nearly 1 million homes.