Fact Check: Did Trump pay RWE $1.2B to stop building offshore wind farms?
WASHINGTON, DC: A claim spread online that President Donald Trump’s administration paid German energy company RWE more than $1.2 billion to abandon its offshore wind projects.
The allegation raised questions about the administration’s approach to renewable energy and the use of taxpayer money. Let's fact-check the claim.
Claim: Trump paid German energy company RWE more than $1.2B
One viral Facebook post claimed that the Trump administration had paid German energy company RWE $1.22 billion to stop building offshore wind farms. The post suggested that the government wanted RWE to invest in natural gas projects instead.
The post stated, “New levels of stupid just dropped. The Trump administration just wired a German energy company $1.22 billion to NOT build wind farms.”
It further claimed that this was the fifth time the administration had paid a company to abandon a clean energy project. According to the post, the government had spent nearly $4 billion on such payments.
The post claimed that RWE had planned to build offshore wind turbines near Humboldt, California, which could have generated enough electricity to power about 600,000 homes. It alleged that Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s department paid the company to abandon the leases and invest in natural gas instead.
The post also claimed that RWE planned to invest $900 million in a Louisiana gas terminal and new gas plants after receiving the payment. It described the alleged payment as an effort to stop clean energy development rather than a subsidy for wind power.
The post criticized Burgum’s comments about reducing costly energy subsidies. It argued that paying $1.22 billion to a foreign company contradicted that position.
It also claimed that the wind projects had received approval during the Biden administration and that courts had challenged the Trump administration’s efforts to cancel wind projects.
The unverified claim later spread to Reddit, Instagram and other social media platforms.
Fact Check: True
The claim is true. RWE and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced the agreement on August 6, 2026, through a news release and posts on X.
RWE said it settled with the Department of the Interior to give up its offshore wind leases off the coasts of New York, California and Louisiana. The company said it had originally obtained the leases from the US government and had already invested more than $1 billion in developing the projects.
According to RWE, the leases represented years of planning, investment and work with federal agencies. Under the agreement, the company said it would invest $1.2 billion in natural gas projects instead.
On the same day, Burgum welcomed RWE’s agreement in a post on X. He described the company’s investment in natural gas projects as voluntary.
This was not the first such agreement in 2026. In March, the Trump administration reached a $928 million agreement with French energy company TotalEnergies to cancel two offshore wind projects.
