Washington/Essen, August 2026. RWE is exiting the US offshore wind business and returning three lease areas off the coasts of New York, California, and Louisiana. In return, the Essen-based energy company will receive $1.22 billion from the US Department of the Interior. The sites could have supported projects with a combined capacity of around seven gigawatts. However, under the administration of President Donald Trump, RWE no longer saw a realistic prospect of obtaining the necessary permits. The company had already halted operations in 2025 and is now also dropping its legal claims against Washington. Instead, new investments are being channeled into an LNG project and gas turbines for planned power plants.
RWE relinquishes three wind lease areas with seven gigawatts of potential
The three lease areas were still in the early stages of development. Consequently, the associated wind farms would not have come online until the 2030s at the earliest. According to the Associated Press, they would have had a combined capacity of around seven gigawatts—an amount of power mathematically equivalent to the needs of more than five million U.S. households. Following the settlement, RWE no longer holds any offshore wind leases in the United States.
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Financially, however, the agreement does not represent a simple billion-dollar windfall for RWE. The lease in the New York Bight alone cost the company around $1.1 billion in 2022. Another $163 million was added for California and Louisiana. Consequently, the initial lease costs totaled approximately $1.263 billion. Furthermore, RWE reports having invested additional funds in development and planning. The $1.22 billion settlement is thus actually slightly lower than the original purchase prices for the three leases.
US offshore wind gives way to LNG and new gas power plants
However, the capital remains largely within the US energy market. RWE plans to allocate $900 million for an indirect 16 percent stake in an LNG project in Louisiana. The settlement funds are intended to finance the construction of the terminal there. Additionally, the company has reserved gas turbines worth $300 million. RWE is also developing a pipeline of 15 gas-fired peaking power plants across various US markets.
In doing so, RWE is shifting its investments from long-term offshore projects to facilities with better prospects for political realization. However, the company is by no means exiting the US renewable energy sector entirely. RWE Americas intends to invest around €17 billion there over the next six years. As a result, installed generation capacity is projected to rise from the current level of approximately 13 gigawatts to 22 gigawatts by 2031. The US portfolio continues to include solar farms, onshore wind power, and battery storage systems.
Trump administration has already bought back twelve offshore leases
The RWE deal marks the fifth settlement of this kind this year and is the largest to date. Washington had previously agreed on repayments totaling around $2.7 billion with TotalEnergies, Ocean Winds, Invenergy, and Duke Energy; these companies collectively relinquished nine offshore leases. With the inclusion of RWE, the total rises to approximately $3.9 billion and twelve surrendered leases. Consequently, the U.S. offshore wind sector is losing a significant portion of its unbuilt project pipeline within just a few months.
Washington justifies this shift in course by citing energy security, costs, and the need for increased domestic energy production. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum stated that the U.S. requires reliable and affordable energy rather than technologies that fail to adequately meet current demand. However, Democratic politicians and several states dispute this assessment. They are particularly critical of the use of billions in federal funds to buy back wind lease areas that had already been auctioned off. Seven states are already suing over a similar deal with TotalEnergies, while California has announced legal action regarding another cancelled offshore lease.
Author: Blackout News
Sources: RWE (06.08.26) – Reuters (06.08.26) – Associated Press (06.08.26)