Trump shut down offshore wind in New England. Nova Scotia hopes to benefit

Maine Public | By Peter McGuire
Published November 14, 2025 at 4:31 PM EST

Since taking power earlier this year, President Trump has made good on campaign threats to halt American offshore wind projects.

His anti-wind agenda has stifled clean energy growth in Maine and the rest of New England where ocean wind is regarded as crucial for meeting long-term electricity demands, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and boosting economic development.

Now some in the industry have turned their attention north, to the Canadian province of Nova Scotia where that country's first ocean wind development is gaining speed.

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston laid out the project's ambition in a promotional video released earlier this year.

"What if Nova Scotia could power up to 27% of Canada’s energy needs?" Houston said. "Think about that — that would make Nova Scotia an energy superpower."

The proposal is called Wind West, a massive infrastructure development that would exploit more than 60 gigawatts of potential ocean wind power off Nova Scotia's coast, many times the province's 2.5 gigawatt demand. The plan calls for a major transmission development to carry that power to big cities further west.

And Nova Scotia is eyeing the northeast U.S. as a potential customer too.

"This energy is very valuable - New England has massive extra energy needs and they are certainly not alone," Houston said in the video.

The province has been working on Wind West for years. But it may gain new relevance as the Trump administration upended New England's offshore wind power plans.

The government temporarily halted construction on the nearly-complete Revolution Wind development off Rhode Island, threw other plans under scrutiny, erased wind energy development areas in the Gulf of Maine and terminated $34 million in funding for a specialized wind power port in Salem, Massachusetts among other moves aimed at suppressing the industry.

"There’s still a lot of real interest in continuing these projects, but it is simply impossible at this time," said Adrienne Downey, a director with consulting firm Power Advisory and expert in offshore wind power.

Downey said the administration's moves could put offshore wind development in the northeast back at decade at least. It could also jeopardize a goal of securing abundant power for the region as electricty demand is soaring. Regional grid operator ISO New England estimates an 11% growth in demand in just the next decade.

Nova Scotia is a possible new source of that power, Downey said.

"If we can’t build it here, and we can’t build enough capacity through other resources fast enough, is that a potential opportunity for the northeast to tap into? We’ll see."

Full article at: https://www.mainepublic.org/climate/2025-11-14/trump-shut-down-offs...

************************************ 

Fair Use Notice: This website may reproduce or have links to copyrighted material the use of which has not been expressly authorized by the copyright owner. We make such material available, without profit, as part of our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, economic, scientific, and related issues. It is our understanding that this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided by law. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes that go beyond "fair use," you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.