Duke Energy has agreed to surrender its undeveloped offshore wind lease off the Carolina coast to the Trump administration in exchange for a $129 million partial reimbursement that it will redirect toward nuclear and natural gas generation instead, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced Monday. A non-regulated Duke subsidiary originally paid $155 million for the OCS-A 0546 lease in 2022, with the company saying at the time it could support up to 1.6 GW of offshore wind capacity—enough to power nearly 375,000 homes. The surrender marks the ninth offshore wind lease buyback under the current administration.
The Interior Department valued the Carolina Long Bay lease area at $129 million, which Duke will "reinvest" in "additional generating capacity to better serve its customers in the Carolinas," according to the agency's announcement. Across nine offshore wind lease buybacks, the Trump administration has agreed to pay more than $2.6 billion to companies, with the stipulation that recovered funds be used for specific projects such as oil, gas, and geothermal. Eight states are now suing the administration over the buyback deals—California announced plans to sue on June 23, while New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont filed suit on June 2.
Kodwo Ghartey-Tagoe, executive vice president and CEO of Duke Energy Carolinas, said in the release that the company would "refocus" nearly $129 million into "additional generating capacity, which may include advancing new nuclear and natural gas generation, and grid enhancements to strengthen reliability, support continued growth in the Carolinas and keep costs as low as possible." Interior Secretary Doug Burgum reiterated in the release that offshore wind farms pose a "national security concern," an assertion the announcement notes has been successfully challenged in court by offshore wind developers who won injunctions against the administration's stop-work orders. The Interior Department described the lease as "very early stage" and said the funds will be "redeployed to meet America's energy demands of today and of tomorrow."
The deal represents a shift in Duke's generation strategy, turning away from offshore wind optionality that the company had said in 2022 might be part of "the least cost path" to achieve North Carolina's decarbonization goals—but only if state regulators determined it was economically viable. The administration's buyback program has effectively eliminated that optionality by offering utilities and developers cash to exit their offshore wind positions, with the requirement that funds flow into fossil fuel or other non-wind alternatives. The National Resources Defense Council criticized the announcement Monday, saying "The Trump administration is wasting our money paying companies not to produce energy." Duke's decision means the Carolinas lose a potential 1.6 GW of offshore wind capacity while gaining an undetermined amount of nuclear and gas generation that the utility says will strengthen reliability and support regional growth.