Trump Hostility to US Offshore Wind Reverberates Through Supply Chain

Feb 13 (Reuters) – Companies that committed to investments in U.S. offshore wind infrastructure and supply chains are scrapping their plans as the projects they were meant to serve face huge setbacks, including President Donald Trump‘s plan to end federal support.

The pullback reflects the trickle-down effect of a dramatic downturn in the U.S. offshore wind industry over the past two years that has caused lengthy delays, cost increases and even failures of many of the nation’s proposed offshore wind farm projects. It could cost thousands of planned jobs and billions of dollars in investments.

“When a project fails to move forward entirely, there is a ripple effect for businesses across the national supply chain that isn’t limited to a single state,” said Stephanie Francoeur, senior vice president of marketing and communications at the offshore wind industry trade group Oceantic.

As recently as 2022, market research firm 4C Offshore had forecast the U.S. market would exceed former President Joe Biden’s goal of installing 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030. The firm last year said it now expects under 25 GW to be installed by that time.

A major offshore wind port in New Jersey, billed as the first staging ground for the industry’s planned expansion on the East Coast, is being repurposed; billions of dollars in contracts for new offshore wind support vessels have dried up; and manufacturers are scrapping their plans, according to public statements and Reuters interviews with 10 company executives, business groups and state officials.

Once seen as a bright area of growth in the burgeoning clean energy sector, the offshore wind industry has been stung by soaring costs and, more recently, the prospect that Trump will end cruc…