Image by Nicholas Doherty.

What will be the future of offshore wind turbines off coastal United States with Donald Trump as U.S. president?

“We recommitted to reducing carbon emissions with offshore wind off the coast of Long Island,” declared New York Governor Kathy Hochul last week in her “State of the State” address in Albany. A week before, giving a “State of the Region” speech on Long Island, Hochul told of how with “the South Fork Wind Project we have the largest commercial grade offshore wind facility in America. And we’re just getting started….Don’t stop believing that this is one of the many ways that we can use our ingenuity and bring power to…Long Island.”

Hochul is among many public officials in New York and the U.S., and around the world, strong on offshore wind. In the United Kingdom, wind power has become its major source of electricity with 17.3% of its electricity from offshore wind, 11.4% from onshore wind.

“Wind is main source of UK electricity for the first time,” was the headline of a BBC News piece in 2023 by Esme Stallard, its climate and science reporter.

“Energy prices drop below zero in the UK thanks to record wind-generated electricity,” was the headline of an article last month on the website EcoWatch celebrating a one-day record. This piece said, “UK’s Labour government has a goal of quadrupling offshore wind power, doubling onshore wind and tripling solar by 2030, with an overall target of 95% green energy.”

The title of a current UK government posting: “The UK continues to drive investment and innovation in its thriving offshore wind.” It added, “The UK is the second largest offshore wind market in the world.”

Europe was decades ahead of the U.S. in building offshore wind farms. It........

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