Trump temporarily halts leasing and permitting for wind energy projects

[modrepub]

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday temporarily halting offshore wind lease sales in federal waters and pausing the issuance of approvals, permits and loans for both onshore and offshore wind projects.

The interior secretary will review wind leasing and permitting practices for federal waters and lands. The assessment will consider the environmental impact of wind projects on wildlife, the economic costs associated with the intermittent generation of electricity and the effect of subsidies on the viability of the wind industry, the order states.

Trump wants to increase drilling for oil and gas and has been hostile to renewable energy, particularly offshore wind. Trump’s pick for interior secretary, Doug Burgum, was asked during his confirmation hearing whether he would commit to continuing with offshore wind leases that have been issued. Burgum said projects that make sense and are already in law will continue.


https://apnews.com/article/wind-energy-offshore-turbines-trump-executive-order-995a744c3c1a2eddb30cacf50b681f13

My 2cents:

This affects all wind projects (land and ocean). The delay and Trump's stance may cause some projects to be scrapped. Bottom line, this will increase electricity costs for all Americans.

This cold snap has created some of the highest energy demands on our local (PJM) electric grid. Spot prices have routinely gone up 10x what they were only a few weeks ago. It's the high demand days that spike prices in the winter and summer. While most wind farm projects are relatively small compared to the grid demand, wind power on the PJM grid rarely makes up more than 5% of generation, this little bit helps shave off some of the price spikes on peak demand days. It could make the difference between a megawatt of electricity going for $500+ or only $200. As the grid demand passes what base generation is available, prices go up, at times exponentially as temporary (inefficient, often dirty) and more expensive generation source are pressed into service.

As usual, this administration knows very little about how things really work and we'll all wind up paying more for their lack of knowledge (and they'll blame it on renewables anyway).