Trump Pays TotalEnergies $1 Billion To Abandon U.S. Offshore Wind Projects

The Trump administration‘s push against offshore wind power just got a major price tag. The U.S. government has agreed to pay French energy giant TotalEnergies nearly $1 billion to walk away from its offshore wind projects in the United States. The deal was signed on March 23, 2026, at an energy conference in Houston called CERAWeek.

U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné signed the $928 million agreement. In exchange, TotalEnergies will give up its leases for two offshore wind projects. One was the Attentive Energy project, a planned multi-gigawatt development, potentially up to 3 GW, off the coasts of New Jersey and New York. The other was the Carolina Long Bay project, a 1 to 1.2-gigawatt project planned off North and South Carolina.

TotalEnergies had won those leases in 2022 during the Biden administration, paying a total of $955 million, with the Attentive Energy lease comprising the majority of the ~$928 million total, and the Carolina Long Bay lease accounting for the remainder. Both projects were put on hold at the end of 2024. The reimbursement is essentially a dollar-for-dollar return of what the company paid.

TotalEnergies says it’ll take that $928 million and invest it in U.S. fossil fuel projects instead. That includes the Rio Grande LNG plant in Brownsville, Texas, shale gas production, oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, and natural gas power plants. TotalEnergies reportedly has ties to Glenfarne’s Alaska LNG project through long-term offtake agreements.

The Trump administration has been strongly against offshore wind. It’s criticized wind energy as expensive and unreliable. The Interior Department called the deal a win for lowering energy costs for American families. Some industry and environmental groups, however, called the move political theater, arguing it removes affordable, homegrown energy from the grid.

TotalEnergies CEO Pouyanné said offshore wind isn’t the most affordable electricity source in the U.S. He also said the projects were unlikely to get federal licenses under the Trump administration. The company said it won’t pursue any new U.S. offshore wind projects.

The deal’s a blow to New York, which had big offshore wind goals. Governor Kathy Hochul called it unhelpful. Other energy majors have pulled back from U.S. offshore wind amid policy shifts.

✅ Claims in this article were verified using AI-assisted fact-checking.