I recently sat down with Kris Ohleth, Director of the Special Initiative on Offshore Wind, to discuss the challenges, opportunities, and progress in the US offshore wind market. It was a great and fascinating discussion of the US offshore wind industry, what it’s been going through in the paste decade or more, where it stands now, and what needs to be done to progress it in coming years. The podcast discussion complements our previous one with Susan Muller, a Senior Energy Analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), regarding the US offshore wind market and the benefits of offshore wind power.

Give the discussion a listen! You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, Overcast, Pocket, Podbean, Radio Public, or via the embedded YouTube or SoundCloud player below.

“Right now, the Trump administration is trying to increase the production of methane gas and other fossil fuels while dismantling clean energy sources — a strategy that may be good for the fossil fuel industry, but fails to address the real challenges facing America’s energy system,” Kris and her team wrote when reaching out for the podcast. “While heavy dependence on fossil fuels exposes consumers to price spikes from a volatile global market, technologies like offshore wind can help keep energy prices stable and support American energy independence. Ultimately, offshore wind is an opportunity to build up American energy infrastructure, boost our power supply, keep energy prices under control, create high-quality jobs and drive billions in investment, all while fighting climate change. These are real, important opportunities; it would be a mistake to waste them.”

Indeed. All true. Unfortunately, the US wind power market, especially the offshore wind power market, is on edge right now with the very anti–clean energy Trump White House in power. Here’s more from Kris and team on these matters:

Job security/economic impacts

Federal uncertainty and meddling places tens of thousands of jobs in the wind industry at risk, along with more than 400,000 clean energy jobs nationwide. The current administration’s energy policies have already stalled or led to the losses of over 40,000 jobs, including over 11,000 in the wind industry.

That’s not including the recent and unfair cleaving of over 4,000 federal employees, including around 800 at NOAA, who have been dedicated to the thorough review of offshore wind deployment and wildlife protection. We already know offshore wind will harness utility-scale, zero-carbon, homegrown generation and with it a reduction in public health harms from airborne particulate matter and a reduction on consumer electricity and gas bills.

Renewables made up over 90% of new resources added to the grid last year. With energy demand projected to rise nationwide, stifling renewable deployment will worsen supply shortfalls while supply chain, infrastructure and transmission bottlenecks delay new fossil fuel plants.

Offshore wind and other clean energy investments strengthen American manufacturing and make our electricity more independent and reliable. There are already nearly 2,000 offshore wind supply chain contracts in place across 40 states.
Embracing OSW means that less nonvariable, fossil fuel generation capacity like methane gas is needed.

On top of all its advantages for the energy system, more offshore wind would also bring a lot of other benefits to our communities. The offshore wind industry is already driving billions of dollars in investments in the U.S., supporting high-quality jobs in everything from manufacturing and construction to ship-building, and helps reduce air pollution and fight climate change to boot.

There are strong tailwinds when it comes to the consumer and policymaker perspective on the technology.

• Investment: An estimated $25 billion has been invested into the U.S. offshore wind ecosystem, including in manufacturing, ports, vessels, and workforce development.
• Deployment: American Clean Power analysis (March 2025): the U.S. deployed 49 GW of clean energy capacity—a third more than the prior year—with 40 GW of on- and offshore wind energy in the pipeline.
• Reliability: New demand is anticipated, and a great mismatch between how quickly new electricity loads (such as factories or data centers) can be connected to the grid, and the longer timelines required for adding new power generation and transmission lines to serve that load. The offshore wind industry has matured over the past few Presidential administrations, and the good news is that the technology can be swiftly deployed in those sites that are permitted and approved, to meet this enormous need.

The offshore wind industry will push forward. Stay tuned to keep an eye on how it progresses, and to not miss out on any huge milestones in the burgeoning industry.