The Interior Department announced that it has reached a deal to pay Invenergy hundreds of millions of dollars to discontinue its plans for constructing wind farms in Atlantic and Pacific regions. This is the third agreement of its kind made by the Trump administration to cancel offshore wind leases.

Invenergy agreed to relinquish four leases in federal waters that were intended for wind farms in the New York Bight, off the Central Coast of California, and in the Gulf of Maine. These projects, which were still in early stages, faced challenges under the Trump administration, which had suspended all federal permitting for offshore wind.

The government will compensate Invenergy with $765 million, which is slightly less than what the company paid for these leases during the Biden administration. In return, Invenergy plans to invest the funds in developing at least five new natural gas-fired power plants in the Midwest and geothermal projects in the Western United States.

This agreement is similar to previous deals made since March with other companies, including TotalEnergies from France, to abandon wind farms off the coasts of California, New Jersey, New York, and North Carolina in favor of fossil fuel projects.

These cancellations bring the total amount the government has spent to encourage companies to terminate their offshore wind leases to approximately $2.5 billion.