In an interview with Paul Gerke from Factor This, United's Kat Burnham discusses the repercussions of the Trump administration's order to halt construction on Rhode Island's Revolution Wind project. She encourages state leaders to step up to meet climate and energy reliability goals as federal support decreases.
They say a drowning man is unbothered by the rain, but the past week or so has been particularly hard on the U.S. offshore wind industry.
Last Friday, the Transportation Department canceled $679 million in federal funding for a dozen offshore wind projects in 11 states, including $435 million for a floating wind farm in Northern California and $47 million to boost an offshore wind project in Maryland that the Interior Department has pledged to cancel.
In late August, the Trump administration halted construction on the nearly-complete Revolution Wind, a 65-turbine project near Rhode Island that is more than 80% finished. Despite being months away from serving customers in Connecticut and Rhode Island — and the fact that the project had cleared years of federal and state reviews — the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued an order saying the federal government needed to review Revolution Wind to “address concerns related to the protection of national security interests of the United States.” It did not specify those concerns.
“We are absolutely frustrated that this brings uncertainty not just to New England and to the offshore wind industry, but to the energy industry more broadly and has implications for our workforce as well as consumers,” Kat Burnham, senior principal at Advanced Energy United (AEU), told Factor This in a video interview.
“Offshore wind in particular is especially abundant during winter periods,” she explained. “In the winter here in New England, that’s when we’re overly reliant on natural gas, both for our electricity usage as well as our heating. Last winter, we saw wholesale prices for energy go up, and folks saw the impact of that on their utility bills.”
Advanced Energy United, a national trade association representing a range of clean energy technologies, service providers, and buyers, has tracked a 67% increase in energy prices in New England from 2024 to 2025.
“What was so important about this project is that it was a 20-year price lock,” Burnham shared, pointing out that there isn’t a fuel cost associated with wind, unlike gas, which is prone to volatile pricing. “And it’s local, which was crucial for the reliability of our power system. In New England, we’re importing a lot of power from other regions. Finally, we have a resource in our backyard, and the rug is getting pulled out from us at the last minute.”
This isn’t the first time in recent memory that the Trump administration has tried to stop progress on a major offshore wind project. In April, the feds told Equinor to halt work on Empire Wind, off the coast of New York. Governor Kathy Hochul negotiated a continuation of the project by committing to fossil fuel infrastructure. AEU’s Burnham hopes other Governors take notice and do what’s necessary to keep similar offshore wind endeavors on course.
“This is going to be an opportunity for states to step up to make sure that we don’t lose the progress that we’ve made on this industry,” she surveyed.
Watch the full video interview linked in this post for more on the fate of Revolution Wind, how developers like Ørsted are navigating the changing legislative tides, and what to keep an eye on next.
Read the full article here.