TotalEnergies pauses US offshore wind array after Trump win
French oil major with big sector ambitions joins RWE in mothballing development as CEO says 'it's only four years'
TotalEnergies said it has put its New York-bound Attentive Energy offshore wind array on pause following the victory of sector opponent Donald Trump in the US presidential election, it was reported.
Trump has vowed to stop development “on day one” of his next term starting 20 January 2025.
“I have decided to put the project on pause”, TotalEnergies' CEO Patrick Pouyanne said at an energy conference in London on Tuesday, according to multiple media reports.
The oil major's CEO reportedly added that "we'll see better in four years... the advantage is that it's only for four years."
TotalEnergies leads the 1.3GW Attentive Energy 1 consortium with a 56% stake, followed by partners Corio Generation with 27.7%, and local utility Rise Light & Power at 16.3%.
The project had been contracted in the New York Round 3 that collapsed in 2023 after GE Vernova withdrew its expected 18MW turbine, throwing project economics into disarray.
The consortium had previously announced in October its decision to withdraw from New York’s Round 5 tender.
TotalEnergies and Corio are also jointly separately developing the 1.3GW Attentive Energy 2 to power New Jersey.
TotalEnergies joins German energy firm RWE in pressing pause on its US offshore wind developments following the election of Trump.
TotalEnergies and RWE both won pricey leases in the New York Bight in 2022.
TotalEnergies paid some $795m for its 84,332-acre (341 sq. km) lease, while RWE shelled out $1.1bn for 125,964 acres in an adjacent lease.
Total also won acreage in the Carolina Long Bay that same year.
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