January 22, 2025

Immediately upon taking office Monday, President Donald Trump signed several executive orders, declaring a national energy emergency and rescinding the policies of the previous administration, including on electric vehicles and offshore wind.

But at this point it mostly amounts to political messaging, several observers told K Kaufmann, and the returning president will need to do more than just issue orders to “unleash American energy” to meet rising demand, others told James Downing. K also covered the confirmation hearings for Chris Wright and Doug Burgum, Trump’s nominees to head the departments of Energy and the Interior, respectively. 

But regardless of who’s president, offshore wind continues to struggle in the U.S. Just days before Trump’s inauguration, BOEM approved Vineyard Wind 1’s plan to remove and replace turbine blades installed at up to 22 locations after a major failure last summer. And yesterday, Ørsted announced new problems and an additional $1.7 billion in impairments for its U.S. offshore wind portfolio. 

Here’s what else we had this past week: 

• ACEG: More Community Trust, Faster Transmission Development 
  

• CARB Drops Multiple EPA Waiver Requests Ahead of Trump Inauguration 

• DC Circuit Vacates LNG Rail Safety Rule from First Trump Administration 

• IEA Sees Momentum Toward New Nuclear Era, Obstacles 

• LPO Offers Eight Utilities $22.9B in Loan Guarantees 

• NJ Advances Clean Energy Projects Amid Trump Skepticism 

• Oceantic Emphasizes OSW’s Economic Benefits 

• PUC Steers VT Legislature Away from Clean Heat Standard 

• USDA Allocates $6B More for Rural Clean Energy 

See you next week!