Trump halts wind projects, including Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, Dominion stock drops 4%

[Elderberry]

CNBC by Spencer Kimball 12/22/2025

Key Points

•   The Trump administration halted Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, the largest project of its kind in the U.S.

•   The administration also paused leases for Vineyard Wind 1, Revolution Wind, Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind 1, all of which are under construction.

•   Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the administration paused leases for the projects due to national security concerns identified by the Pentagon.

The Trump administration on Monday halted Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, the largest project of its kind in the U.S., as well as four other projects under construction off the East Coast in a devastating blow to the wind industry.

Shares of Dominion Energy

, the utility developing the Virginia project, dropped nearly 4% on the news.

The administration also paused leases for Vineyard Wind 1 off Massachusetts, Revolution Wind off Rhode Island, Sunrise Wind off Long Island and New England, and Empire Wind 1 south of Long Island.

The projects taken together would provide enough power for more than 2 million homes, according to statements from the developers.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the administration paused leases for the projects due to national security concerns identified by the Pentagon.

Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind is a 176 turbine project project that would provide enough power for more than 600,000 homes, according to Dominion. The project was expected to be complete next year.

More: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/22/trump-offshore-wind-cvow-dominion.html

[IsailedawayfromFR]

So much of this article is biased and inaccurate.

1. The projects taken together would provide enough power for more than 2 million homes, according to statements from the developers. 
Wind energy cannot now nor never supply that type of power supply.  It is too intermittent to be the basis for residences as this sentence intimates.  Power from coal, nuclear, hydro or natural gas must be the baseload for residences.

2. “Stopping CVOW for any length of time will threaten grid reliability for some of the nation’s most important war fighting, AI, and civilian assets,” Dominion said in a statement. 
What a laugh as it is exactly the opposite.  Being intermittent supply, there is 100% probability that using wind as a baseload here would be the threat to grid reliability.

3.“It will also lead to energy inflation and threaten thousands of jobs,” the utility said.  Schumer said in a statement Monday. “At a time of soaring energy costs, this latest decision from DOI is a backwards step that will drive energy bills even higher.”   
 Energy inflation?  Name one place where largescale wind energy was undertaken that led to lower power costs.  There is none.

Sane people would never believe the hysterical over-reaction here to being a realist instead of a continued pursuit of idealism by the renewable cult.

[Hoodat]

Here's the math:

176 SG 14-222 DD turbines rated at 14.6 MW = $4.164 million/MW ÷ 30% capacity factor = $13,880 / kW.

Commercial (e.g. data centers) electricity rates in Virginia currently are at around 9.68 cents per kWh.

Divide these, and you get approximately 16.4 years for this project to break even.  And that's only if you forgo any maintenance costs or interest costs, and all 176 turbines manages to run flawlessly over the course of that time.

Any other US company would fire any executive that signed off on such a massive cost project with such an abysmal rate of return.  But not government-subsidized ones.

If someone took that $10.7 billion and instead bought CDs at 5%, they would double their money in less time.