RWE has ceased offshore wind activity in the United States

RWE's CEO stated in a speech draft published in advance of the annual general meeting that the company has temporarily halted its offshore wind activities in the United States due to the regulatory uncertainty caused by the Trump administration.

Markus Krebber's comments highlight the challenges facing European energy companies on the U.S. Offshore Wind Market, which is a major target of Trump’s energy policy. Trump compared wind turbines earlier this year to "garbage".

Following a U.S. stop-work order, Equinor, a Norwegian company, announced last week that it would cease offshore construction on its Empire Wind I Project in New York State. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

Krebber stated that "in the US...we have temporarily halted our offshore activities", according to the manuscript of the AGM scheduled for April 30, 2019.

"We remain vigilant given the political developments," added he.

RWE has installed about half of its renewable energy capacity in the United States.

RWE, Germany’s largest power producer, has the rights to develop U.S. off-shore wind projects on three coastal sites. Last month, it said that these activities had been reduced to a minimum but did not go as far as to say they were put on hold.

The German group owns 73% of the Community Offshore Wind Joint Venture, a 3 gigawatt project with Britain's National Grid.

According to RWE’s annual report, Community Offshore Wind has noncurrent assets that have a carrying value of 1,31 billion euros. This is calculated by subtracting depreciation. ($1 = $0.8804 euros)

(source: Reuters)