Overview
- RWE reached the $1.22 billion settlement with the U.S. government on Thursday to relinquish offshore wind leases off New York, northern California, and Louisiana and stop development of those projects.
- Under the agreement RWE will invest $900 million for an indirect stake in the Louisiana LNG export project and commit $300 million to reserve turbines and build about 15 natural-gas peaking plants across the United States.
- Officials say the leases were in early development and would not have generated power until the 2030s, while critics say refunding competitively won leases effectively returns public money to companies and shifts clean-energy capacity away from states that had planned for it.
- The settlement is part of a string of buyouts that brings the administration’s total spent on canceling offshore wind leases to roughly $3.9 billion and includes earlier deals with TotalEnergies, Ocean Winds, Invenergy and others.
- States and more than 50 advocacy groups have sued or threatened legal action arguing the refunds exceed the Interior Department’s statutory authority under offshore lease law and could lead to court-ordered clawbacks or other legal remedies if judges find the settlements unlawful.