“No Windmills Are Being Built,” Trump Declares

President-elect Donald Trump talked for the first time about the energy policy of his second administration and reiterated his opposition to renewable energy and specifically wind farms. The remarks came during a press conference in Florida which is being described by the media using words such as “rambling,” “freewheeling,” and “meandering,” and during which he said he would rename the Gulf of Mexico and would not rule out using force to take Greenland and the Panama Canal.  

Trump is well-known for his disparaging remark against renewable energy in favor of fossil fuels and his campaign slogan, “Drill, Baby Drill.” During the campaign, he spoke against wind power and while naming executives from the energy industry and fracking to his new administration, had yet to directly clarify his administration’s policy toward wind farms. 

“We're going to try and have a policy where no ‘windmills’ are being built,” he said during today’s press conference. “They litter our country…Nobody wants them….”

During what Bloomberg is describing as a “lengthy tirade against wind power,” Trump repeated many of his assertions against the industry. He asserts wind turbines “don’t work without subsidy,” are too expensive to develop, and are harmful to the environment. During his first administration, he said the noise from “windmills” causes cancer and that if they are near someone’s house it ruins the value of the property. (Possibly a veiled reference to his personal fight to stop a Scottish wind farm developed near one of the Trump golf clubs.)

Trump makes other accusations against wind turbines saying the offshore wind farms “obviously kill whales.” Multiple studies by the U.S. government and ecological groups have said no link has been found between whale strandings and death and offshore wind turbines.

While Trump says none will be built it is unclear how far his administration will be able to go in stopping the industry. The New York Times cites data from the Department of Energy reporting wind power is one of the fastest-growing and lowest-cost sources of electricity in the United States. DOE says wind power accounted for 22 percent of new installed electric capacity in 2022. 

Onshore wind power development is mostly on private lands. It is also in states including Texas, Wyoming, and Iowa. The New York Times cites data from the American Clean Power Association reporting that 24 GW of onshore wind power is under development in Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Offshore wind farms however are on U.S. federal lands and leases. The first Trump administration was accused of “slow walking” permitting for offshore wind farms. The Biden administration moved to launch the offshore sector and accelerated permitting in its final months. It ends having approved 11 commercial-scale offshore wind farms. The Department of the Interior and its Bureau of Ocean Energy Management highlighted the approval of over 19 GW of offshore wind energy projects – enough to power more than six million homes.

Biden's policy for offshore wind also contributed to shipbuilding, port development and other industries. In 2023, Biden highlighted at the first steel cut for a rock installation vessel, that companies had announced 18 offshore wind shipbuilding projects as well as investments of nearly $3.5 billion across 12 manufacturing facilities and 13 ports to strengthen the American offshore wind supply chain. The vessels range from the first Jones Act-compliant installation vessels to a SOV, and crew transfer vessels. They are being built at shipyards ranging from Florida to Louisiana, New York, Massachusetts, Michigan, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. The industry created new business for companies ranging from tugboats to supplying and marine services.

Experts point out it is unlikely the Trump administration can cancel leases and reverse the approvals. The first offshore wind farms started delivering power in 2024 and construction is underway from Massachusetts to Virginia for large offshore projects. 

The industry however has already been confronted with challenges and the speculation is that further licensing will be curtailed. Leaders in the industry including RWE and TotalEnergies had already said they would be delaying U.S. developments based on the uncertainties of the new administration. Energy majors including Shell and BP have also announced a shift in their policies reducing the focus on wind energy in the companies’ portfolios.