What I’m reading: Scotland approves massive offshore wind farm, U.S. offshore wind under assault, wave energy in Spain, and more

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In case you missed it, on Monday I published a story on my journey to get off fossil fuels in my home in Northern California.

I heard from readers on social media who wanted to know more about how much the transition to an all-electric home cost. Stay tuned! In part two, I’ll go into more detail on the costs, the incentives that helped to reduce those costs, and what it’s like living in an all-electric home.

Until then, here is an offshore wind- and marine energy-themed roundup of highlights from what I’ve been reading.

Please help spread the word about Quitting Carbon by sharing this newsletter with friends, colleagues, and anyone else who is interested in the energy transition. Thanks, as always, for reading.

Scotland defies Trump, approves massive offshore wind farm

The Trump administration is doing everything it can to kill the U.S. offshore wind industry (more on this below). Trump himself made clear on his recent golfing junket to Scotland just how much he loathes wind turbines, calling the turbines spinning near his Aberdeenshire golf course "some of the ugliest you've ever seen."

Just days after Trump left the country, Scottish officials told Trump to, well, go pound sand in one of his golf course bunkers by approving what could be the world’s largest offshore wind farm.

“Located around 38km east of the Scottish Borders coastline, the Berwick Bank project is set to be one of the largest offshore wind farms in the world, boasting enough capacity to power every household in Scotland around twice over, or 17 per cent of all UK homes,” BusinessGreen’s Michael Holder reported yesterday.

Project developer SSE Renewables “said delivery of the project would also be subject to it securing a Contract for Difference from the government in next month's auction, as well as reaching a final investment decision.”

The UK’s Labour government said that approval of the 4.1-gigawatt project “meant 28GW of offshore wind capacity had now secured planning consent with potential to be up and running in the next five years, which would be enough to support its 2030 clean power goals,” according to Holder.

Offshore wind under assault in the U.S.

Meanwhile, back in the U.S., Trump’s Cabinet is busy turning his anti-wind rhetoric into policy.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued an order on Tuesday aiming to root out what it called the “preferential treatment” for wind and solar power. “The Order calls for identifying policies biased in favor of wind and solar energy and halting support for energy supply chains controlled by foreign rivals,” according to an Interior Department statement. “Leveling the playing field in permitting supports energy development that’s reliable, affordable, and built to last,” said Burgum.

What does this look like in practice? Well, the next day, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the federal government’s offshore energy regulator, rescinded all designated Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf.

“By rescinding WEAs, BOEM is ending the federal practice of designating large areas of the OCS for speculative wind development, and is de-designating over 3.5 million acres of unleased federal waters previously targeted for offshore wind development across the Gulf of America, Gulf of Maine, the New York Bight, California, Oregon, and the Central Atlantic,” BOEM said in a statement.

This action could make it much harder for California and other coastal states to rely on offshore wind to help achieve their long-term climate and clean energy targets.

“The order doesn’t withdraw the 583 square miles of ocean off Northern California that the Biden administration leased to energy companies, but it does hamper future leases off California and other states that companies had hoped to sign,” Politico’s Alex Nieves and Ian M. Stevenson reported on Thursday.

This all comes even as Americans’ support for offshore wind energy is clear.

Seventy-five percent of Californians (and 77% of likely voters) "support allowing wind power and wave energy projects off the California coast," according to a survey conducted last month by the Public Policy Institute of California.

Could the Northeast turn to Canada for offshore wind?

The situation is now so dire – “conservative activists have petitioned the Trump administration to take away the permits for an operating offshore wind project - Vineyard Wind,” Heatmap’s Jael Holzman reported yesterday on Bluesky (emphasis in original) – that Northeast states may resort to buying offshore wind power from projects in Canada if they can’t build it themselves.

“With the Trump administration creating roadblocks to Massachusetts’s push to meet its climate goals, the Healey administration is eyeing Canadian offshore wind to bring more clean energy to the state, and a key lawmaker is looking to support that effort,” CommonWealth Beacon’s Bhaamati Borkhetaria reported last week.

“Massachusetts faces a statutory deadline: It must lock in contracts for at least 5,600 megawatts of offshore wind by 2027. In light of setbacks to wind energy in the US, Massachusetts’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs is potentially looking to procure electricity from planned offshore wind farms in Canada – a development first reported by Canada’s National Observer.”

Maine is interested in Canadian offshore wind, too.

“With Massachusetts toying with the idea of procuring offshore wind energy from Canada, officials in Maine say they are keeping an eye on opportunities across the border as local development has been stalled,” Maine Morning Star’s AnnMarie Hilton reported last week.

On Tuesday, the provincial government of Nova Scotia and federal officials in Ottawa announced that four areas off Nova Scotia’s coast had been designated for potential offshore wind development, reported The Canadian Press’ Keith Doucette.

Australian wave energy startup pushes towards commercialization in Spain

I reported in April that California regulators are planning for the day when power from wave and tidal energy projects could be added to the state’s grid. In Spain, a wave energy project is about to hit the water.

“Western Australia-based wave energy pioneer Carnegie Clean Energy has begun development of a 6-megawatt (MW) wave energy array – its biggest yet – that is expected to be built in the Bay of Biscay in Spain,” Joshua S. Hill reported at Renew Economy on Monday.

“The project will use Carnegie’s Ceto technology, named after an ancient Greek sea goddess, and will consist of six 1 MW commercial-scale Ceto units. They will connect into the Biscay Marine Energy Platform (BiMEP), located off the coast of the Basque Country, which is an open-sea test infrastructure for wave energy technologies, offshore wind turbines, and auxiliary equipment, and boasts four 5 MW cables connected to the local grid,” Hill added.

In a few weeks, I’ll be attending the joint University Marine Energy Research Community Annual Conference + Ocean Renewable Energy Conference 2025 at Oregon State University in Corvallis.

Watch for dispatches from the conference, including field tours to the O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory and PacWave open ocean wave energy testing facility in Newport, later this month.

Bonus 1: "A taste of fossil fuel freedom"

What might help to reinforce the message that offshore wind is a desperately needed solution to the climate crisis? Perhaps some star power.

On Wednesday, Swedish energy giant Vattenfall released in ad as part of campaign featuring actor Samuel L. Jackson.

"These giants are standing tall against fossil fuels. Rising out of the ocean like a middle finger to CO2," says Jackson in the ad.

A hat tip to climate scientist David Ho for sharing a link to the video on Bluesky this week.

Bonus 2: Courage amid unspeakable tragedy and loss

The floodwaters that swept through the Texas Hill Country on July 4th left devastation in their wake, with at least 135 confirmed deaths, including 37 children.

But the death toll could have been even worse had it not been for the courage and heroism displayed by the young counselors at Camp Mystic, a summer camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River. A week after the flood, the Washington Post's John Woodrow Cox recounted the bravery of one of those counselors, Ainslie Bashara, 19, who led her Giggle Box of 16 “littles,” as her 8- to 10-year-old female charges were known, to safety in the dead of night.

Here's Cox's description of the girls' escape as floodwaters surged just outside their cabin:

A staffer outside removed the window screens and left, presumably to aid other cabins, so Ainslie rushed to her dresser and pulled out a headlamp her dad had given her to read nighttime devotionals. She turned on the porch light and peered through the window at the water below, believing it couldn’t be deeper than a foot or so.

“Okay, we’re going to go out,” she told the girls around 3 a.m., but the first in line, a 9-year-old, was afraid to jump.

So out Ainslie leaped, and when her bare feet touched the ground, the water, rushing past with such force it felt like rapids, crested at her waist. If the girl had gone first, Ainslie realized, she would have been swept away.

Stunned by the cold, Ainslie caught her balance as her co-counselors inside kept the girls calm and coaxed them through the window. The pair eased the first girl out to Ainslie, then a second, then a third. All of them were crying. They clung to Ainslie — her arms, back, waist, hair — as the former dancer slogged through the current toward a dry pavilion about 30 yards away.