Near-term pain but major long-term gain. That’s the prognosis the nascent but hugely ambitious US offshore wind industry faces as aftershocks subside from the US government’s surprise August decision to delay the nation’s first utility-scale project, the $2.8bn Vineyard Wind development off Massachusetts, for further environmental review.
Anxiety among project developers, state officials and supply chain executives that President Donald Trump was impeding a new, fast-moving renewables sector over his personal animus toward wind turbines or for political reasons, has given way to recognition and resignation that additional federal regulatory oversight was probably unavoidable at this early stage.
