Equinor ASA and Dominion Energy Inc. will spend a combined $93 million on leases to develop offshore wind farms near Delaware and Virginia, despite former president Donald Trump’s vow to target the industry if he retakes office.
The two companies provisionally won the latest federal auction for offshore leases, the US Interior Department announced Wednesday. Equinor will pay $75 million to develop a 101,400-acre patch of ocean about 26 nautical miles (48 kilometers) from Delaware Bay, while Dominion will spend nearly $18 million for a 176,500-acre lease about 35 miles from Chesapeake Bay.
The industry has been struggling with high financing costs, supply chain problems and the reputational damage from a broken turbine that briefly closed beaches on Nantucket with debris. It also faces a potential threat in Trump, who in May said he would issue an executive order targeting offshore wind development if he wins November’s presidential election.
That possibility, however, did not stop the six companies that participated in the auction.
“While the lease sale did not induce the same level of competitive bidding we observed in auctions held during 2022, it nevertheless could suggest that some project developers view the potential risks associated with a possible return of the Trump Administration as overdone,” said Timothy Fox, a managing director of the research firm ClearView Energy Partners, in an email.
Dominion declined to comment on the political risks, and Equinor didn’t immediately provide a comment.
