Invenergy and partner energyRE had intended to build the 2.4-GW Leading Light Wind project in its offshore lease area adjacent to New York and New Jersey, with power originally intended to support both statss. But it was cancelled in November 2025 due to cost and supply chain challenges “that have made the development of new offshore wind energy projects extremely difficult,” according to a NJ state filing by the developers. Invenergy's other lease areas, two in the Gulf of Maine and one off Morro Bay, Calif., had potential of 4.8 GW in power capacity. 

The company “will deploy additional capital into projects that can be delivered on a commercially reasonable timeline and meet customer demand while continuing to evaluate opportunities as market conditions evolve,” said Daniel Runyan, Invenergy senior vice president for development.  

“Rather than supporting large-scale, homegrown energy solutions which are already delivering savings for Northeast residents, these actions undermine local economies and threaten American jobs and energy affordability,” said offshore wind advocacy group Oceantic Network. It estimates that cancelling one 1-GW offshore wind project permanently removes up to $9.5 billion in U.S, economic output. 

But Invenergy is still proceeding to build Grain Belt Express, an estimated $11-billion high-voltage transmission line set to cross 800 miles in four Midwest states to deliver solar and wind power to the eastern U.S., despite the administration revoking last year a $4.9-billion conditional federal loan guarantee. Now as a privately financed project, preconstruction and engineering is underway on the project's first phase in Kansas and Missouri. The line also will be built in Indiana and Illinois. Quanta Services and Kiewit Energy Group are major first-phase contractors, under $1.7 billion in combined contracts awarded last year.

Invenergy Deal Follows Others

The Invenergy wind buyout deal follows ones reached in April with developers of Bluepoint Wind and Golden State Wind projects to give up their offshore wind leases respectively, off New York-New Jersey and off California—and redirect investment of about $885 million to "LNG projects, oil and gas assets and other energy infrastructure" in Gulf Coast areas, Interior said. Funds include about $765 million for the Bluepoint Wind lease and $120 million for the Golden State lease, set for the Morro Bay. Calif., wind energy area. Both developers then “decided not to pursue any new offshore wind developments in the U.S.” Interior claimed. 

UPDATED: But in a June 23 announcement, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild notified the U.S. Interior Dept. and developer Golden State Wind LLC of an intended lawsuit against them for an "unlawful agreement that puts at risk California’s clean energy gains, thousands of high-quality jobs, and more than $100 million in public investments in the offshore wind industry, including voter-approved climate funds."  They said, if the deal proceeds, it "threatens to set back California’s burgeoning offshore wind industry by years." The firm had planned a 2-GW floating wind project and earmarked $30 million for workforce training, supply chain development and local investment. 

Bonta and Hochschild also said an investigative subpoena was issued to Invenergy that demands a copy of its agreement with Interior for its California site, which it claims the agency has not released, and seeks added detail on its "negotiation and impact."

The Trump administration did not comment on the California lawsuit threat if the action did not change in 60 days. In announcing the Invenergy deal, Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said his agency "looks forward to continued cooperation from companies that are reevaluating their energy investments."

In its TotalEnergies deal, Interior said funding from cancelled leases offshore of New York-Jersey and North Carolina would be diverted to build new trains at the Rio Grande LNG terminal project in Texas, develop “upstream conventional oil" in the Gulf of Mexico and into shale gas production. Interior Secretary Douglas Burgum has said the agreement was voluntary.

According to Interior, the settlement agreements. estimated to now total $2.5 billion, would be paid from the U.S. Treasury Dept. taxpayer-funded Judgment Fund. But according to the June 2 suit by attorneys general form New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont, "no statute authorizes Federal Defendants to use a sham settlement agreement to unlawfully cancel an offshore wind lease and redirect the money paid for the lease to a separate, unauthorized use favored by the President."

Sierra Club Senior Advisor Nancy Pyne called the agreements “shady backroom deals.”

Meanwhile, TotalEnergies may have more difficulty trying to recover recent offshore wind energy investments in Germany, as it seeks to withdraw from one project due to what it said is delays in grid connections and lagging economic conditions, according to European press reports.

TotalEnergies said it is in talks with the German government related to an estimated $7 billion payment for several leases won in a 2023 auction, according to the reports. The firm said it is "actively working on the realization of our projects" and is seeking "practical solutions."