Offshore wind energy: What's the big deal?

When former US President Donald Trump spoke at a New Jersey rally in May, he promised to scrap all wind energy projects on "day one" if he returns to the White House. Then in August, the Republican Party presidential nominee called wind a "horrible" energy and indirectly linked it to high bacon prices. 

Trump's opposition to wind turbines isn't new. In 2013, he mounted a legal challenge to stop a wind farm being built off the coast of his Scottish golf course because it would ruin the ocean views.   

His latest claims that wind turbines cause massive property decline, kill a disproportionate number of birds and whales, or that turbine noise is linked to cancer, are either false or exaggerated, according to FactCheck.org, a project run by the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center. But they're being echoed by wind energy opponents around the world. 

In Australia, groups resisting a newly declared offshore wind and renewable energy zone in the Illawarra region south of Sydney worry that whales and property values will suffer if turbines come to town.

Alex O'Brien, spokesperson for Responsible Future, a local coalition built on social media that opposes offshore wind in Illawarra, told DW that even if turbines are subject to strict environmental impact assessments, they cannot "avoid major disruptions to marine life" in an area that is also "a humpback [whale] migration corridor." 

But Patrick Simons, a coordinator at clean energy campaign Yes2Renewables, says the main disruption to marine life will be in the construction phase, which can be slowed or stopped during annual whale migrations to minimize any impact. 

"There is no evidence that offshore wind causes harm to whales," said the offshore wind advocate, adding that oil drilling and climate change will be much worse for the animals. "These talking points reflect the claims coming out of the US. People have a common-sense care for nature. That gets manipulated by these false claims."

But as offshore wind grows, so too has opposition.

Offshore wind is expanding around the world 

In line with a massive expansion in renewable energy, global offshore wind capacity increased nearly ten-fold between 2013 and 2023, reaching 75.2 gigawatts (GW) capacity. But some 2500 GW will need to be installed by 2050 to limit global heating to 1.5 Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit), according to one projection.

Offshore is seen as a key technology to help decarbonize energy grids because ocean winds are more consistent at night and so complement daytime solar and onshore wind energy while reducing reliance on high-emissions coal power, said Patrick Simons. The turbines are also larger than onshore variants meaning they produce more power.

Wind power is still in its relative infancy in the US, where the first large-scale offshore wind project just recently began delivering power, as well as in Australia, which has identified six areas for potential development. But the energy source already supplies the equivalent electricity needs of 50% of homes in the UK with plans to quadruple capacity by 2030. Meanwhile, China plans to double its offshore capacity to 60GW by 2025.  

Who is behind growing pushback against offshore wind? 

In the US, not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) opposition campaigns, which might have genuine concerns, have been coopted by fossil fuel-aligned "climate obstructionist networks," said William Kattrup, a researcher at Brown University's Climate and Development Lab in Boston. Kattrup is co-author of "Against the Wind," a study exploring the anti-offshore wind network on the country's east coast.

"These new grassroots-appearing groups and experienced obstructionist think tanks share legal support, public speakers, leadership, and information and tactical subsidies," wrote the "Against the Wind" authors.

The study authors say institutions that have previously been called out for funding groups linked to climate change denial have donated to anti-offshore wind campaigns within the network. They identified around $72 million in contributions from the six "fossil fuel-interested donors" between 2017 and 2021. 

In the northeastern US state of New Jersey, offshore wind projects have come up against "ground zero for vocal, well-organized opposition," according to recent reporting from AP that referred to "thus far unsubstantiated claims" that turbines kill whales.  

Support for the offshore wind industry in New Jersey fell to 50% in late 2023 from 80% four years earlier, according to a poll by Stockton University in the same US state. Some 71% of respondents said turbines would affect ocean views a great deal, and 68% said they would have a large impact on marine life. 

"The [fossil fuel] industry has orchestrated a decades-long battle against climate initiatives such as offshore wind by lying, manipulating, and deceiving," Kattrup said. 

By contrast, the far-right, pro-fossil fuel Alternative for Germany (AfD) party's push against wind hasn't struck the same chord with the German population as anti-wind activists have in the US, said Stefan Gsänger, secretary general of the Germany-based World Wind Energy Association.

Opposition to offshore wind has been minimal in both the UK and Germany, even though they have  among the highest number of operational wind farms in the world, according to the green energy advocate. That's in part because installations are typically not visible from shore as well as "in-depth community consultation" processes in both countries. 

Uniting against offshore wind energy 

Back in Australia, Anna Mackiewicz, a campaigner in the Illawarra region for Yes2Renewables, said some grassroots resistance to offshore wind is based on a lack of consultation and an inherent "distrust of government," including promises of thorough environmental impact assessments. 

But she added a recent push from the country's center-right Liberal Party to support nuclear energy instead of renewables is also being embraced as a justification to roll back offshore wind. 

On Facebook groups that oppose offshore wind development, there is an increasing dichotomy between "renewables and nuclear," the activist told DW. Nuclear is framed as a "more responsible" way forward, she said — despite Australian researchers claiming that nuclear will cost significantly more than renewables and take much longer to build.

Responsible Future denies any links to fossil energy or nuclear interests. "Our initiatives and advocacy are not swayed by funding or influence from major fossil fuel entities" or "nuclear energy," the group states on its website.

Meanwhile, Alex O'Brien from Responsible Future is looking to the growing opposition to offshore wind in countries like the US as an opportunity to bolster the anti-offshore movement. 

"As the push for offshore wind intensifies globally, we want to build a network that strengthens our collective voice while ensuring the protection of our ecosystems and communities," O'Brien told DW. 

Edited by: Jennifer Collins