The fallout from Trump 2.0's stop-work order on Ørsted's nearly finished offshore wind project in New England extends beyond the development itself.

Catch up quick: The Interior Department demanded Friday that construction halt on Revolution Wind, a 65-turbine project off Rhode Island and Connecticut.

• Ørsted said Revolution — approved in the Biden era with plans to power around 350,000 homes — is 80% finished. It's a joint development with BlackRock's Global Infrastructure Partners.

A few takeaways...

🤔 Specifics are lacking. The letter to Ørsted from Interior's offshore energy branch broadly cites national security interests and protection of other marine uses, but omits details.

⚖️ This could soon be in court. Ørsted said it's "considering a range of scenarios, including legal proceedings."

• "We are working with our partners in Connecticut to pursue every avenue to reverse this decision," Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee (D) said in a joint statement with Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D).

📢 It's already a very public fight. The governors will hold separate news conferences today flanked by members of Congress, union workers and others.

• Look for this to become part of wider political messaging over electricity prices, with the state officials claiming that halting renewables puts even more upward pressure on bills.

📉 Ørsted's rough patch just got worse. The Danish renewables giant was struggling before Friday's stunning news, and its stock swooned another 16% to record lows this morning.

• Even pre-Trump, U.S. offshore wind developers faced hurdles from interest rates, supply chain woes and more. Trump policies have compounded the problems.
• Earlier this month, Ørsted announced plans for a roughly $9.4 billion share sale to aid its finances, sending its stock price plummeting.

🥊 It's a stark new example of Trump's wider war on wind, which the president and his lieutenants call unreliable and overly subsidized.

• The Interior Department has made a series of moves, such as new layers of political review for procedural steps and giving added priority to other uses of lands and waters.
• Last week, the Commerce Department announced a new probe into the national security effects of imported turbines and components, which could bring new tariffs.

🤝 Keep an eye out for dealmaking. Earlier this year, Interior temporarily halted Equinor's Empire Wind project off New York's coast, which had recently begun construction.

• The resolution remains hazy, but Interior Secretary Doug Burgum claimed that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signaled "willingness to move forward on critical [gas] pipeline capacity."

What we're watching: Whether halting a multibillion-dollar project that's so far along sends a chill beyond investments in wind.

• "The unfortunate message to investors is clear: the U.S. is no longer a reliable place for long-term energy investments," the American Clean Power Association said in a statement.

The bottom line: No matter how this project ultimately shakes out, new U.S. investment in offshore wind looks stymied for a long time — especially if a MAGA candidate wins in 2028.

U.S. clean energy sectors are finally getting some good news, following the policy pummeling of this year: an interest rate cut signal.

Why it matters: High interest rates have dampened wind and solar projects in recent years due to clean energy's high upfront capex needs.

Zoom in: Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell eased open the door on Friday to an interest rate cut in September.

• Investors are expecting a 25 basis point rate cut to be announced at the next Fed meeting Sept. 16-17.
• Clean energy stocks rose, with big gainers including Enphase Energy (+10.2%), First Solar (+5.3%), Bloom Energy (+8.3%), Oklo (4.9%), and Sunrun (9.9%) — all beating the S&P 500's 1.5% uptick.

Catch up quick: High interest rates have undermined wind, solar and nuclear, as well as more nascent clean energy projects, starting in 2022 with the Fed's rate hikes.

• Debt accounts for a higher share of the capital structure of clean energy projects, compared to oil and gas, and mining.

Yes, but: It is a welcome sign for clean energy, but a near-term rate cut might not be enough to counter anticipated headwinds from the end of the tax credits.

What's next: All eyes will be on the Fed's September meeting.

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I listened to a couple of analyses over the weekend that challenge the (perhaps wobbling) CW around soft oil supply-demand balances.

Why it matters: The narrative around meh consumption growth and rising supply from OPEC and non-OPEC nations alike has helped keep prices modest and affects investment decisions.

What they're saying: Paul Horsnell, Standard Chartered Bank's head of commodities research, said the current perceptions of a slack market are part of a long-term trend.

• "Generally, not always, but generally, over the past 10 years, demand has tended to outperform expectations. Demand pessimism has been somewhat unjustified," he said in the Oxford Institute of Energy Studies podcast.
• "I think this year is just rinse and repeat again. People are very pessimistic about demand [and] became even more pessimistic, say, after the inauguration of Trump, [and are] very optimistic on supply, despite the disappointments from last year," he said.

Zoom in: Over at Veriten, veteran analyst Arjun Murti says that "we agree that there is some risk of softness in the back half this year, in early 2026."

• But he adds: "Crude oil-only supply demand balances are not anywhere near as bearish or oversupplied as, I think, consensus fears, and that fear of sort of a crash, and even the risk of an extended downturn, I think those fears and risks are way overdone."

What we're watching: Murti emphasizes the importance of looking specifically at crude oil, as opposed to wider "liquids" markets.

• And Veriten is more convinced by OPEC's research arm, which sees a significantly tighter market than the International Energy Agency that Murti notes is very influential with Wall Street.
• Watch his video presentation.

European oil majors' joint carbon storage venture achieved the first injection of CO2 in the North Sea, the companies said today.

Why it matters: Execs with Northern Lights — a JV of Shell, Equinor and TotalEnergies — called it a milestone for CO2 capture, transport and storage.

Driving the news: The venture, which has Norwegian government backing, has begun storing CO2 trapped and pipelined from a Heidelberg Materials' cement factory in Norway.

The big picture: "This demonstrates the viability of carbon capture, transport and storage as a scalable industry," Equinor CEO Anders Opedal of the JV that manages CO2 from third-party industrial plants in Europe.

Reality check: CO2 capture and storage has been slow to get off the ground, today snagging just a tiny share of global emissions.

• But a recent International Energy Agency analysis sees "renewed momentum."

What's next: The project's first phase has a storage capacity of 1.5 million metric tons of CO2 annually.

• Northern Lights is moving ahead with a second phase to more than triple that level and hopes to have it ready in the second half of 2028.

"Clean energy projects worth $18.6bn have been cancelled this year, compared with just $827mn in 2024, according to Atlas Public Policy's Clean Economy Tracker," Financial Times reports.

• Why it matters: It's largely a reflection of seismic policy changes under Trump 2.0.