Blame the U.K.’s June 23 vote to leave the European Union—the Brexit referendum—as well as construction challenges, for hesitation in the development of lightweight floating foundations for wind turbines sited in deep waters off Scotland and England.

“The political situation is very uncertain in Scotland following Brexit,” says Bill Hurley, chairman of Glosten Associates, a naval architecture and marine engineering firm in Seattle, and development director of PelaStar, one of two such projects moving toward deployment. “We’re surfing through political changes and challenges in the initial development of floating wind.”