Duke gives up offshore wind lease for ‘partial’ reimbursement under Interior deal
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- Duke Energy surrendered its OCS-A 0546 lease in the Carolina Long Bay area to the Interior Department in exchange for a "partial reimbursement" the agency valued at $129 million.
- Duke's non-regulated subsidiary paid $155 million for the lease in 2022, which could have powered nearly 375,000 homes with up to 1.6 GW of potential offshore wind capacity, though it was never developed.
- Kodwo Ghartey-Tagoe, Duke Energy Carolinas EVP, said the recovered $129 million will be "refocused" into additional generating capacity, which may include new nuclear, natural gas, and grid enhancements.
- The deal is the ninth offshore wind lease the Trump administration has agreed to buy back, with the administration paying more than $2.6 billion total across nine lease areas while stipulating that companies reinvest the funds in oil, gas, and geothermal.
- The administration faces lawsuits from eight states over the buyback deals — California announced its suit June 23, while attorneys general from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont filed June 2.
- Interior Secretary Doug Burgum claimed offshore wind farms pose a "national security concern," an assertion that developers have successfully challenged in court by winning injunctions against the administration's stop-work orders.
- The Natural Resources Defense Council criticized the announcement, saying "the Trump administration is wasting our money paying companies not to produce energy."
Why it matters: Duke takes a $26 million loss on a never-developed lease that could have powered 375,000 homes, instead redirecting that capital toward nuclear and natural gas — a fossil-fuel pivot that eight states are now suing to block. The Interior program forces utilities to reinvest buyback proceeds only in oil, gas, and geothermal projects.
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