BP Exits US Wind, Masdar and Iberdrola Deal

Alan Hall discusses Jupiter Bach’s halted expansion, New York’s offshore wind project delays, BP’s exit from the US wind market, Maryland’s permit defense, and a major clean energy deal in the UK and Germany.

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A major wind turbine supplier in Pensacola, Florida is scaling back expansion plans.

Jupiter Bach, a Denmark-based company, is pausing hiring after passage of President Trump’s energy bill. The company makes nacelle covers and other components for wind turbines.

Plant manager Sean Guidry says the company had planned to grow its local workforce from two hundred forty to more than three hundred twenty employees next year. Now he says they see a more flat year.

The policy shift comes after President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill into law earlier this month. The legislation significantly shortens the eligibility window for wind and solar tax credits.

Projects must now break ground by twenty twenty-six and enter service by twenty twenty-seven to receive full tax benefits. Previously, those credits were locked in through twenty thirty-two.

Guidry says his company had planned an additional one point two million dollars of investments in their Pensacola plant this year. Now those investments are in question.

The company supplies components directly to GE Vernova, whose nearby plant assembles complete nacelles for wind energy projects across the country.

Guidry urges policymakers to view wind energy as key to U.S. manufacturing and energy independence. He warns that without reliable federal support, the United States could lose ground to China in fast-growing industries that depend on abundant, low-cost electricity.

New York State has put the brakes on a major offshore wind project.

The New York State Public Service Commission terminated its offshore wind transmission planning process. The commission cited stalled federal permitting as the reason.

This halts plans to deliver up to eight gigawatts of offshore wind power into New York City by twenty thirty-three.

Commission Chair Rory M. Christian says the uncertainty coming out of Washington forced the state to act. He says quote, “This is not the end. We’ll move forward once the federal government resumes permitting.”

The commission cited recent federal actions halting new offshore wind leasing and permitting. Officials say those actions make short-term project execution unfeasible.

Existing projects like South Fork Wind, Empire Wind and Sunrise Wind are unaffected and continue to move forward.

The commission says it will apply lessons from this process to future planning. It’s focusing on affordability, reliability and risk reduction.

British oil giant BP is getting out of the wind business in America.

The company announced Friday it’s selling its entire U.S. onshore wind operation to LS Power. The sale includes wind farms spread across seven states with a combined capacity of one point seven gigawatts.

BP did not disclose the sale price. But previous estimates valued the wind business at as much as two billion dollars.

The sale is part of BP’s twenty billion dollar divestment program announced in February. The company is streamlining its business and pivoting back toward fossil fuels to boost returns to shareholders.

William Lin, BP’s executive vice-president for gas and low-carbon energy, says green energy still has a role to play in the company’s portfolio. But he says BP is no longer the best owner to take the wind business forward.

The move comes as BP seeks to refocus on its core oil and gas operations. The company’s share price has fallen more than ten percent over the past twelve months.

After the transaction closes, BP Wind Energy will become part of LS Power’s subsidiary Clearlight Energy. That will increase the LS Power’s energy group’s operating fleet to about four point three gigawatts.

Maryland is fighting back against federal regulators over an offshore wind permit.

The Maryland Department of the Environment defended the permit it issued to US Wind for a project off Ocean City. The state rejected a challenge from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Maryland Secretary of the Environment Serena McIlwain says the state will not reissue the permit as the EPA requested. She says the state made no mistake that needed correcting.

The EPA had argued that Maryland identified the wrong process for citizens to file appeals of the air pollution permit.

EPA administrator Amy Van Blarcom-Lackey says any appeals should be filed with the EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board.

But Maryland argues its permit should be appealed through state courts in Worcester County. The deadline for state court challenges has already passed.

McIlwain says long-settled procedure dictates that state-issued permits are appealed under state law, not federal law.

The US Wind project is planned about ten miles from Ocean City’s shoreline. When complete, it will include one hundred twenty-one wind turbines and could generate 2.2GW of energy.

There’s positive news from the offshore wind industry today.

Clean energy companies Masdar and Iberdrola have announced a five point two billion euro deal in the United Kingdom.

The two companies will split ownership of the East Anglia THREE offshore wind farm fifty-fifty. When complete, the project will produce one point four gigawatts of power. That’s enough electricity to power one point three million British homes.

The companies also announced that their Baltic Eagle wind farm in Germany is now fully operational. That four hundred seventy-six megawatt project will supply around four hundred seventy-five thousand households with renewable energy.

Masdar Chairman Sultan Al Jaber says offshore wind will play a crucial role in the global energy transformation. He says projects like these have never been more critical due to growing demand from artificial intelligence and emerging markets.

The East Anglia THREE project is expected to come online in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty-six. It will be one of the world’s two largest offshore wind farms.

The deal is part of a fifteen billion euro strategic partnership between the two companies. They plan to accelerate clean energy deployment across the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States.

That’s the week’s top news stories.

Join us tomorrow for the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast.