BP has abandoned plans for a major US offshore wind farm after Donald Trump declared war on renewable energy.
On Wednesday, a joint venture set up by BP said it was scrapping the proposed Beacon Wind project off the coasts of Massachusetts and New York and signalled the White House’s backlash against wind farms was behind the move.
“The US is a market with significant long-term potential for offshore wind, which we still believe can play a key role in the country’s energy transition,” a Jera Nex BP spokesman said.
“Unfortunately, in the present environment, we see no viable path to the development of our Beacon Wind project and have concluded that we cannot continue our investment in the market.”
Investors cheered the news, sending shares up as much as 2.1pc.
The project was intended to power one million homes in the northeastern United States. A backlash from the White House has forced BP to reverse course.
Mr Trump has been highly critical of wind farms, ordering projects to stop and cancelling subsidies. Last month, he told the UN: “They’re a joke. They don’t work. They’re too expensive.”
BP’s Beacon project was set to be constructed under a joint venture project with Japanese energy generator Jera.
Jera Nex BP, the joint venture business, was founded last December as one of the world’s largest offshore wind operators. The Beacon Wind project is its only US asset, with its focus on Europe, Japan and Australia.
It was formally established in August with a portfolio of operating assets and development projects totalling a net potential generating capacity of 13 gigawatts.
All US staff at Jera Nex BP will be made redundant. However, BP could retain its lease rights for the farm and wait for a more favourable moment to resume development.
BP in the American offshore market
BP entered the American offshore market just five years ago, declaring that its initial $1.1bn (£820m) investment was central to its “pivot to truly becoming an integrated energy company”.
But its focus on green energy under previous chief executive Bernard Looney worried shareholders, who were alarmed as profits plummeted.
It led activist investor Elliott, one of BP’s biggest shareholders, to accuse the oil company of “chronic operational underperformance”.
In February, Murray Auchincloss, BP’s new boss, promised a “fundamental reset”.
In July, BP sold its American onshore wind business, which generated power for seven US states.
A spokesman for Jera Nex BP said its decision to abandon the Beacon Wind project “reflects the challenging macroeconomic and supply chain environment currently facing offshore wind globally, which has impacted the viability of many projects across the sector”.
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