America's Wind Crusade Hands Industry to China

In almost every area of the energy transition, one country dominates: China.

- Bloomberg

Wind power, where the People's Republic still has less than half the global market, is a rare exception. President Donald Trump is doing his best to change that.

The administration last month cancelled an Orsted A/S project off the coast of Rhode Island that's 80% complete and large enough to power 350,000 homes. It's also working to stop a project off Maryland, roughly twice the size and due to begin construction next year. A third development offshore from New York was halted for a month earlier this year before a deal was agreed to restart it. On his first day in office, Trump banned all leasing of the US seabed for wind and excluded the technology from the government's definition of "energy."

The sector has taken this unnatural disaster remarkably well. With the exception of Orsted, whose issues go far deeper than its battles with the Trump administration, shares in all the major players in Europe and the US have risen since his election. Nordex SE and Vestas Wind Systems A/S have gained 64% and 9.8%, respectively, while GE Vernova Inc. and Siemens Energy AG have doubled—buoyed, in the latter two cases, by gas-turbine businesses more favoured in Washington.