Another offshore wind developer exits California in $1.22-billion deal with Trump administration

Another offshore wind company has entered into an agreement with the Trump administration to walk away from projects along the coast of the United States, including one in California.

German energy giant RWE said Thursday it reached a $1.22-billion deal with the U.S. Interior Department to abandon wind leases off New York, Louisiana and Northern California near Humboldt, further challenging the Golden State’s clean energy ambitions.

The deal is the fifth and largest the administration has reached this year in an unprecedented effort to steer companies away from offshore wind and into fossil fuel projects. President Trump has described offshore wind as expensive, unsightly and unreliable.

“Americans deserve an energy system built on common sense, not one dependent on costly subsidies or technologies that can’t meet our country’s current demand,” said Interior Secretary Doug Bergum in a post on X welcoming the agreement with RWE.

Previous agreements with companies TotalEnergies, Ocean Winds, Invenergy and Duke Energy totaled about $2.7 billion for the cancellation of at least a dozen federal wind leases. All of the companies agreed to invest instead in U.S. fossil fuel projects.

RWE is one of the world’s leading offshore wind developers, with 22 offshore wind farms currently in operation or or under construction around the world. But the company largely halted its work in the U.S. last year amid Trump’s efforts to thwart wind development, which included canceling federal funding and ordering halts to wind projects nearing completion along the East Coast.

RWE’s California lease area, located about 30 miles off the coast of Humboldt, was awarded under the Biden administration and had the capacity for up to 1.6 gigawatts offshore wind power, or enough for about 600,000 homes. The project was still in its early stages.

“After careful consideration, it was determined there is no path forward to permit these projects in the U.S. for the foreseeable future,” RWE said in a statement. “The company determined that this resolution best serves the interests of its stakeholders and allows it to direct resources toward energy projects that can be advanced with certainty.”

RWE said it will instead invest $900 million to acquire an indirect 16% stake in a liquefied natural gas terminal in Louisiana and $300 million to support the development of natural gas turbines.

Experts said the move does nothing to address California’s supply challenges, energy prices or climate change goals. The state had been working toward a target of 25 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2045, but Thursday’s agreement leaves only two leases intact along the West Coast: one off Morro Bay and one off Humboldt Bay.

Matt Simmons, climate attorney with the Environmental Protection Information Center in Humboldt, denounced the latest agreement.

“The Trump Administration is sabotaging clean, reliable energy that would have powered California homes and businesses,” Simmons said. “Instead, this reckless decision will expose more Americans to the economic and environmental wreckage of fossil fuels.”

Chris Mikkelson, executive director of the Humboldt Bay Harbor District, said unless the state changes its goals, he remains committed to the district’s effort to develop a terminal for the deployment off offshore wind turbines, with construction ready to begin as soon as the end of 2027.

“Markets change, and players change too; however, the drive for economic development and the construction of a multi-purpose heavy lift marine terminal does not,” Mikkelson said. He added that the community, too, “is engaged to ensure a project that honors the past, respects the present, and sustains our future.”

California in June issued a 60-day notice of intent to sue the Trump administration over its previous agreement with Golden State Wind, which Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said risks “California’s clean energy gains, thousands of high-quality jobs, and more than $100 million in public investments in the offshore wind industry, including voter-approved funds.”

A group of seven states also challenged the TotalEnergies agreement in court, arguing that the deal misused government funds and failed to follow proper administrative procedures.

The latest action is likely to face similar challenges.

“The deals are deeply corrupt and illegal,” read a statement from Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), ranking minority member on the House Natural Resources Committee, whose district includes Humboldt County. “When the accountability comes, and I promise you accountability is coming, everyone involved in them will answer for it.”