UK Gets More Offshore Wind As Trump Tries To Block It

At every stage of technological development, you get laggards who don’t want to move forward and make that new technology into some kind of massive risk or problem. That has been proven quite definitively with clean energy technologies. Solar power and wind power come with so many benefits and so few issues — while replacing truly harmful, dirty, deadly energy technologies — that you have to be a bit bonkers to oppose them. Unfortunately, as Tina Casey has been covering superbly for us, our completely bonkers president has been opposing wind power, especially offshore wind power, for years. Despite finally making some progress on offshore wind power in the United States, 2025 turned into a year of illegal halts on offshore wind power projects, illegal cancelling of project approvals, and just a constant battle to move forward in this sector.

Due to the extremely laggard nature of our country in the 21st century, even though our country some of the best wind resources in the world, we have an almost non-existent wind power industry. The UK, on the other hand, has one of the best and biggest offshore wind power markets in the world. And it keeps growing.

Yesterday, we got word that leading global investment firm KKR teamed up with leading global renewable energy company RWE on two offshore wind farms in the UK. And these are gigantic wind farms. Norfolk Vanguard East and Norfolk Vanguard West combine for approximately 3 gigawatts (GW) of power capacity.

Most normal people have no idea what a gigawatt is, though. What’s that mean in normal human terms? According to the companies, these projects should be able to provide power for about 3 million UK homes. Yes, 3 million UK homes.

The projects require about $15 billion of investment to get built, and the two companies will create a 50:50 joint venture to make that happen. I guess that’s the kind of thing you can get done in a predictable market that isn’t hostile to clean energy solutions.

Norfolk Vanguard East will be operational in 2029 and Norfolk Vanguard West will be operational in 2030. The companies provide more background and details:

“A leading supplier of renewables with a 125-year history in electricity production, RWE has a broad portfolio of renewables and flexible generation capacity, and is Germany’s and the UK’s largest power producer. RWE is the second largest player in offshore wind globally, and owns 19 operational offshore wind farms throughout Europe,” the companies note.

“Offshore wind is a key pillar of the UK’s energy system, supplying around 20% of the country’s electricity and underpinning the target of reaching up to 50GW of capacity by 2030. The new windfarms will be located approximately 50 to 80km off the UK’s East Anglia coast in the North Sea and will comprise 184 turbines, offshore substations, and a connection to the National Grid.”

Sounds nice. Wish we could have that kind of clean power over on this side of the Atlantic Ocean….

“KKR has extensive experience in investing behind the energy transition with a strong focus on renewable and transition-related assets globally. Since 2011, KKR’s Infrastructure platform has committed more than $31 billion into energy transition and renewables infrastructure globally. KKR’s portfolio also includes over 10 renewable energy developers. In 2024, KKR invested in Encavis, a German renewable energy platform that owns and operates a diversified portfolio of onshore wind farms across multiple European countries. Previous investments have also included the acquisition of a controlling stake in European renewables developer Greenvolt, and a majority equity investment in U.S. solar and storage developer Avantus.” Sounds like good foresight and investments.

“This investment underscores our conviction in the long-term importance of UK renewables and the central role offshore wind will play in advancing the country’s energy transition,” said Vincent Policard, Co-Head of European Infrastructure at KKR. “By leveraging our complementary strengths — RWE’s world-class development expertise and KKR’s expertise in investing and owning large scale construction and renewable projects — we are helping deliver a significant addition to the UK’s future offshore wind capacity and support the UK in its decarbonisation journey.” Ah, how nice, a nation that is purposefully on a decarbonization journey that sees the “long-term importance of UK renewables and the central role offshore wind will play.” Foresight.

Oh, by the way, I saw another press release about offshore wind power about an hour ago. Supposedly environmental nonprofit Green Oceans is out there spreading misinformation and anti-wind negativity in the United States. The organization, which popped up less than 3 years ago, published a press release in opposition to the Empire Wind offshore wind power project today. The supposed reason: “offshore wind turbines can degrade military, aviation, and maritime radar systems.” Ah, yes, those big bad scary wind turbines are a security risk. The idiocy….

Will some news organizations fall for the trickery of “Green Oceans” trying to pass itself off as an environmental organization? Hopefully not … but probably.