Trump Suspends Offshore Wind Leases, Airloom Turbines

Allen covers the Trump administration’s suspension of five East Coast offshore wind leases on national security grounds, and the wave of lawsuits from developers like Equinor and Ørsted calling the reasoning pretextual. Plus Bill Gates-backed startup Airloom showcases its low-profile turbine design at CES 2026, and Brazil opens consultation on curtailment compensation for renewables.

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Five major offshore wind projects sit idle today. Billions of dollars in equipment. Thousands of workers. All waiting.

President Trump has made no secret of his feelings about wind power.

He has called offshore wind a scam. He has said these projects cost too much. He has compared them unfavorably to natural gas.

Big ugly windmills, he calls them.

His administration has moved aggressively to stop them.

First came executive orders suspending federal approvals. Then stop-work orders on projects already under construction.

In December, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management took the boldest step yet.

It suspended the federal leases for five East Coast projects.

The reason given: national security risks identified by the Department of War in recently classified reports.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum explained that wind turbine blade movement can interfere with radar systems. He pointed to vulnerabilities created by large-scale projects near population centers.

The companies building these projects see it differently.

Empire Wind called the reasoning hollow and pretextual.

In court filings, the company pointed to statements from the Secretary of Interior and the White House. The real motivation, they argued, relates to the administration’s opposition to offshore wind energy.

Not national security.

Politics.

These are not small projects.

Empire Wind is sixty percent complete. Four billion dollars invested. Nearly four thousand workers employed during construction. When finished, it would power half a million New York homes.

Its parent company, Norwegian energy giant Equinor, says it has coordinated closely with federal officials on national security reviews since twenty-seventeen. It has complied with every requirement.

Revolution Wind is eighty-seven percent finished. A five billion dollar venture between Danish company Ørsted and Global Infrastructure Partners.

The project went through more than nine years of federal review before approval in twenty-twenty-three. National security considerations were comprehensively addressed, the company says.

Workers sat waiting on the water when construction was halted in August. A federal judge allowed them to resume in September.

Now they’re stopped again.

Both companies warn that the ninety-day suspension will likely result in cancellation. Offshore wind construction depends on highly choreographed specialized vessels. Complex sequencing. Narrow weather windows.

You cannot simply pause and restart.

Dominion Energy has also filed suit over its Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project. The company calls the suspension arbitrary and capricious.

The legal battles are piling up.

In December, a federal judge in Massachusetts declared an earlier stop-work order illegal. Seventeen states had sued.

New York Attorney General Letitia James led the coalition.

As New Yorkers face rising energy costs, she said, we need more energy sources, not fewer. Wind energy is good for our environment, our economy, and our communities.

She called the administration’s actions a reckless and unlawful crusade against clean energy.

Four East Coast governors issued a joint statement. New York’s Kathy Hochul. Massachusetts’ Maura Healey. Connecticut’s Ned Lamont. Rhode Island’s Daniel McKee.

Coastal states are working hard to build more energy, they said. These projects have created thousands of jobs. They have injected billions in economic activity into our communities.

The National Ocean Industries Association is calling for an end to the pause.

Offshore wind improves national security, says president Erik Milito. It shifts economic, infrastructure, and geopolitical advantages to the United States.

The Interior Department has declined to comment on the lawsuits.

Meanwhile, at CES twenty-twenty-six in Las Vegas, a different kind of wind power is making news.

A startup called Airloom is showcasing a radical new turbine design.

Backed by Bill Gates.

No towering blades reaching for the sky. Instead, a low-profile system about sixty-six to ninety-eight feet high.

Picture a loop of adjustable wings traveling along a track. More roller coaster than windmill.

The company claims forty percent less material. Forty-seven percent lower cost. Eighty-five percent faster deployment.

They say projects can be built in under a year instead of five.

And unlike traditional turbines, these can go places conventional wind farms cannot. Remote islands. Mountainous terrain. Near airports. Even military bases.

Places where spinning blades would be impractical.

The company broke ground on a pilot site last June. Commercial demonstrations are planned for twenty-twenty-seven.

Down in Brazil, the government is tackling a different wind energy challenge.

What happens when you generate more power than the grid can handle?

Brazil’s Ministry of Mines and Energy has opened a public consultation. The question: how should wind and solar generators be compensated when their output gets curtailed?

The government wants to balance legal certainty for investors against excessive costs for electricity consumers.

Stakeholders have until January sixteenth to weigh in.

So there you have it.

The near future of US offshore wind will be decided in court rooms over the next few weeks.

The curtailment of Brazilian renewables will be bandied about in January.

And a Bill Gates supported wind company is going to try it’s hand at power remote locations.

I hope you had new year’s celebration. 2026 is going to be an interesting ride.

And that’s the wind energy news for the 5th of January, 2026.

Join us tomorrow for the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast