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SouthCoast Wind construction start date hit by four-year delay
Martha's Vineyard Times|Eunki Seonwoo|Feb 28, 2025
On Wednesday, EDP Renewables CEO Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade told investors during an earnings call that the project is expected to be on hold the entire presidency of Donald Trump, citing the president’s executive order that halts the approval of new permits at new lease areas for offshore wind. “Ocean Winds will be facing impairment with a €133 million (around $138 million) impacting EDPR at the net profit levels,” Rui Texeira, chief financial officer of EDP Renewables, said during the call.
On Wednesday, EDP Renewables CEO Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade told investors during an earnings call that the project is expected to be on hold the entire presidency of Donald Trump, citing the president’s executive order that halts the approval of new permits at new lease areas for offshore wind. “Ocean Winds will be facing impairment with a €133 million (around $138 million) impacting EDPR at the net profit levels,” Rui Texeira, chief financial officer of EDP Renewables, said during the call.
Officials behind a proposed wind farm nearly 30 miles off the Vineyard’s coast are blaming the Trump Administration for an extensive delay to the development and for the greater devaluation of their offshore wind projects in the United States.
On Wednesday, EDP Renewables CEO Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade told investors during an earnings call that the project is expected to be on hold the entire presidency of Donald Trump, citing the president’s executive order that halts the approval of new permits at new lease areas for offshore wind.
“We’ve taken the more prudent four-year delay approach, could’ve taken a two-year delay, but we took a four year one,” d’Andrade told investors. “So, we still have the project ready to go and we’ll try …
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Officials behind a proposed wind farm nearly 30 miles off the Vineyard’s coast are blaming the Trump Administration for an extensive delay to the development and for the greater devaluation of their offshore wind projects in the United States.
On Wednesday, EDP Renewables CEO Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade told investors during an earnings call that the project is expected to be on hold the entire presidency of Donald Trump, citing the president’s executive order that halts the approval of new permits at new lease areas for offshore wind.
“We’ve taken the more prudent four-year delay approach, could’ve taken a two-year delay, but we took a four year one,” d’Andrade told investors. “So, we still have the project ready to go and we’ll try to, let’s say, manage that optionality.”
Located 26 nautical miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, SouthCoast Wind is a 2.4-gigawatt project that the Interior Department stated would generate enough electricity to power 840,000 homes in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
SouthCoast Wind developers had planned to start construction this year, and they had received a key approval on the last days of the Biden Administration in January days before Trump’s order was signed.
Also arising on Wednesday, the uncertainties stemming from Trump’s opposition to offshore wind has led EDP to devalue its offshore wind projects across the country.
“Ocean Winds will be facing impairment with a €133 million (around $138 million) impacting EDPR at the net profit levels,” Rui Texeira, chief financial officer of EDP Renewables, said during the call.
Ocean Winds is the Madrid-based international wind company that owns SouthCoast Wind and is a joint venture between EDP Renewables, subsidiary of the EDP Group, Portugal’s largest utility company, and Engie, a French multinational electric utility company. In the United States, Ocean Winds is also developing Bluepoint Wind in New York and Golden State Wind in California.
Pierre-François Riolacci, Engie chief financial officer, also noted a drop in the value of the company’s U.S. offshore wind projects during an earnings call on Thursday.
“We also recorded an impairment on our U.S. offshore assets for a bit more than €100 million (around $104 million) to account for a four year time lag in their development following the executive order issued on January 20,” Riolacci said.
SouthCoast Wind had received approval from the U.S. Department of the Interior in December and was the last offshore wind project to be pushed forward under the Biden administration.
However, under a new administration it is unclear when a final decision will be made. The executive order also directs Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to conduct a “review of the ecological, economic, and environmental necessity of terminating or amending any existing wind energy leases, identifying any legal bases for such removal,” and to submit a report to the president.
An Interior Department spokesperson did not provide a timeline regarding Trump’s executive order.
“The Department of the Interior is currently conducting an internal review of the reports submitted to the Secretary [Doug Burgum]. At this stage, we are assessing these reports to determine if any further action is warranted, and we remain dedicated to ensuring that all items are thoroughly evaluated as part of our internal management process,” J. Elizabeth Peace, Interior Department spokesperson, said in a statement.
Ocean Winds did not respond to a request for comment.