US Pays RWE $1.2bn to Scrap Offshore Wind Leases
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- RWE agreed to abandon its US offshore wind projects in exchange for a $1.2bn (£892m) payout from the Department of the Interior, relinquishing leases off California, Louisiana, and the New York Bight after concluding there was "no path forward to permit these projects in the US for the foreseeable future."
- RWE will reinvest $900m (£669m) of the payout into a Louisiana LNG export terminal, part of a broader €17bn ($19.6bn) US investment plan over six years aimed at growing its generation capacity.
- Interior Secretary Doug Burgum framed the deal as a move toward an energy system built on "common sense" rather than "costly subsidies," welcoming RWE's shift to projects that "strengthen our nation's energy security."
- TotalEnergies struck a similar deal with the DoI in March 2026, ending its US offshore wind projects and rerouting investment toward a Texas LNG plant and upstream conventional oil development in the Gulf of Mexico.
- Duke Energy signed a $129bn (£96bn) agreement with the administration the previous month to terminate its offshore wind lease in the Carolina Long Bay area.
Why it matters: The RWE buyout is the third major deal this year in which the US government is paying an energy company to scrap offshore wind leases, and in each case the company is redirecting capital toward LNG and conventional gas — RWE's $900m Louisiana LNG terminal, TotalEnergies' Texas LNG plant, and Duke Energy's termination all flow the same direction, accelerating the administration's fossil fuel pivot at taxpayer expense.
