Trump is waging war on wind energy. Consumers and investors face the costs.

Tue, Aug 26, 2025, 10:17 AM 6 min read

President Donald Trump’s latest moves to block wind energy projects in U.S. waters are threatening future investment while risking higher electricity prices and deeper power shortages, energy industry analysts, regulators and executives warn.

The Trump administration last week declared a halt to a massive wind farm off Rhode Island that is 80 percent complete, sending shares of the developer, Denmark’s Orsted, plunging Monday by 16 percent and drawing warnings of broad impacts from regional grid operators and power companies.

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The administration also is laying plans to block another wind project off the coast of Maryland, according to court filings Monday.

Those moves follow previous actions this year against wind. The president has paused new permits for projects on federal land and launched an investigation into foreign-made wind turbines that could lead to hefty tariffs.

Friday’s emergency order, issued by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, cites national security concerns in stopping work on offshore wind turbines that make up a project called Revolution Wind. But it does not cite any specific threats, and the Department of Defense had already reviewed and approved the project.

The move triggered an angry response from the governors of Rhode Island and Connecticut, who are counting on the 705-megawatt wind project to bring much-needed power to the regional electricity grid. Financial analysts warned that wind developers may stop investing in U.S. projects altogether.

“It was beyond my wildest imagination that something like this could happen to a multibillion dollar project that is nearly complete,” said Atin Jain, an energy analyst at BloombergNEF. “No financial model would have anticipated this type of action. It is beyond the boundaries of what any investor would have considered a reasonable risk.”

The stop work order comes as the Trump administration works to undermine America’s transition to renewable energy sources, declaring wind and solar power unsightly and inefficient and a “parasite” on the nation’s power system. It says consumers will be better served with more coal, gas and nuclear energy. The administration revealed in court documents Monday that it is reconsidering prior approval of the Maryland Offshore Wind Project, a planned $6 billion development off the coast of Ocean City.

The federal government holds considerable sway over massive offshore wind developments, which require a years-long, complicated permitting process that spans multiple agencies. The New England project, in the works for 13 years, is billed by local officials as a crucial component to meeting power demand in Connecticut and Rhode Island and state climate targets.