Offshore Turbines Send Power, Despite Trump's Opposition

Offshore wind turbines roughly three times the height of the Statue of Liberty were spinning off the coast of Rhode Island on Thursday, sending clean electricity to the region. Wind farms are taking shape and operating along the East Coast, even as President Trump seeks to end the US offshore wind industry. He often talks about his hatred of wind power and calls turbines ugly. The AP traveled roughly 100 miles and saw three of the five wind farms in the area. Two of the five are fully operational, two are nearly done, and one is about halfway built. A look at the developments:

• Revolution Wind: Along and Sunrise Wind, Revolution Wind is an offshore wind project being built to power about 1 million homes across Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York. The site is more than 15 miles south of the Rhode Island coast. Some of the blades started to turn as the early morning winds picked up. Workers were inside the central hub of the wind farm, a large gray substation. Revolution Wind is more than 90% complete. It recently began delivering power to New England's grid, and it's on track to be completed this year.
• Sunrise Wind: Construction is nearly 50% complete. It's a mix of installed turbines and empty yellow foundations that await towers and blades. A vessel with giant cranes to install the offshore wind components was parked nearby.
• South Fork Wind: The first large US offshore wind farm to open, South Fork Wind borders the Revolution Wind site. Now in its second year of operating commercially, its 12 turbines can send enough power to New York for more than 70,000 homes. A ship that serves as a floating home base for technicians working on wind farms was next to one of the turbines on Thursday. Technicians had used the ship's gangway to walk onto the turbine and stood at its base. When South Fork opened in 2024, Biden administration officials said it was just the beginning—major new wind farms would dot US coastlines to confront climate change, create jobs, and accelerate the nation's transition to clean energy.

• Block Island Wind Farm: The closest site to the coast is in state waters near Block Island, Rhode Island. Its five turbines began spinning in 2016, making it the first offshore wind farm in the US. Its turbines are shorter than those installed at successive projects but still look enormous up close. They replaced polluting diesel generators that were powering Block Island.
• Vineyard Wind: Construction finished in March on the first wind farm to reach this stage during Trump's tenure. It is expected to reach full operations in the coming months, to power over 400,000 Massachusetts homes and businesses.
• Being built: Two other major US offshore wind farms are under construction—a New York offshore wind project, Empire Wind, and a Virginia offshore wind project, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind.

• Trump's opposition: Less than a year after South Fork opened, Trump returned to office and ordered a temporary halt to leasing and permitting for wind energy projects. His administration has paused work on wind farms under construction, arranged a $1 billion payout to a French energy company to walk away from US offshore wind development, and added an extra layer of review for wind and solar projects. Federal judges have struck down some of his orders blocking wind energy development, including a ruling Tuesday stopping the administration from implementing some policies slowing the development of clean energy.
• The current state: At the same time wind energy is being held back, demand for electricity in the US is skyrocketing. There are limited options in land-constrained coastal states for new, large energy projects in the next few years, which drives up utility bills, said Hillary Bright of the offshore wind advocacy group Turn Forward. "These energy policies are really hitting people at home, in their pocketbooks," she said. "Offshore wind ultimately can be a part of that solution." Jason Grumet of the American Clean Power Association said in an interview: "This is a major commercial industry in the United States of America. Whether the president is enthusiastic about it or not, we have massive energy projects that are either bringing power to the grid or near completion."