Trump’s offshore wind war shakes investors

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Sep 12, 2025

Trump's administration launched a controversial campaign against offshore wind projects, freezing major investments like Ørsted’s Revolution Wind. This political maneuver raises alarms in the clean energy sector, disrupting financing and job growth amidst a backdrop of layoffs and bankruptcies. While there's a contrasting projection of job creation by 2030, the resilience of the nuclear industry also comes under scrutiny, as experts question whether AI advancements can address its inherent economic issues. The conversation dives into the complex interplay of politics, investment, and the future of renewable energy.

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INSIGHT

Federal Approval Reversals Raise Systemic Risk

The Trump administration froze offshore wind with stop-work orders and new investigations that halted nearly finished projects.
This action signals that federal approvals can be politically reversed, raising industry-wide risk and uncertainty.

INSIGHT

Nearly-Complete Projects Still Vulnerable

Ørsted's Revolution Wind was weeks from delivering 700 MW when federal orders froze it, demonstrating immediate operational impacts.
Projects nearly complete can still be derailed, undermining investor confidence across clean energy.

INSIGHT

States Mobilize Legally Against Orders

Seventeen states and several projects have sued or filed challenges against the federal stop-work orders.
The legal pushback highlights broad state-level resistance and the high stakes for energy reliability and jobs.

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On his first day in office, Trump laid out his wind policy in one simple sentence: “We aren’t going to do the wind thing.”

With stop-work orders, red tape, and wild claims about whale-killing electromagnetic fields, the White House has stepped up its war on wind.

The flashpoint is Ørsted’s $5 billion Revolution Wind project off Rhode Island, which was weeks from delivering 700 megawatts of clean power to New England, and now frozen by federal order. The threat against the project is more than a local fight: it signals that even fully permitted, nearly finished clean energy assets can be derailed for political leverage.

Analysts warn that this is sending shock waves through the entire energy sector, raising the cost of capital for everything from solar farms to advanced nuclear.

In this week’s Open Circuit, we unpack the wider impacts. What does it mean when federal approvals don’t hold? And can states, governors, and utilities step in to keep projects alive when Washington is trying to kill them?

Plus, we look at the split story for clean energy jobs. We’ve seen a fresh round of layoffs, bankruptcies and canceled projects, even as the government projects tens of thousands of new renewable and battery jobs by 2030. What is the long-term picture for employment?

We’ll end with a look at Amory Lovins’ new piece on nuclear, where he argues the AI boom won’t rescue reactors from their economic flaws. Is the current demand picture enough to revitalize the U.S. nuclear industry?

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Credits: Co-hosted by Stephen Lacey, Jigar Shah, and Katherine Hamilton. Produced and edited by Stephen Lacey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand.