This episode covers how the wind industry is adapting to political and regulatory challenges, from Ørsted's legal battle to restart Revolution Wind to a wind executive preparing to row across the Atlantic for ocean conservation.



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There's something fascinating happening in the world of wind power right now. Something that tells us less about the technology itself, and more about human determination.



You know the story - Danish energy giant Ørsted the world's largest offshore wind developer - spent five billion dollars building the Revolution Wind project off the coast of Rhode Island. Eighty percent complete. Three hundred and fifty thousand homes depending on the electricity.



Then, one August morning, the phone rings - The new administration says: "Stop. Everything. Now."



Just like that, Orsted is losing a reported two million dollars every single day the turbines sit idle.



Last Monday, federal judge Royce Lamberth looked at the government's reasoning and said - and I quote - "There is no question in my mind of irreparable harm." He ordered work to resume immediately.



Ørsted's stock jumped. The workers went back to their jobs. The turbines will spin again.



Meanwhile, President Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" has triggered something nobody saw coming: the great wind energy consolidation.



Clean energy deals jumped from seven billion dollars to thirty-four billion dollars in just six months.



Companies like Agilitas Energy are swooping in, buying up distressed assets from companies that may struggle with the new reality.



As Barrett Bilotta from Agilitas put it: "We are on the buy side."



Across the Atlantic, let's talk about France. Now, you might think the French would be leading the offshore wind revolution. After all, they've got coastline, they've got technology, they've got TotalEnergies.



But you'd be wrong.



Patrick Pouyanne, TotalEnergies' chief executive, put it bluntly this week: "It's hell to invest in France for regulatory reasons."



Get this - it takes two and a half to three years just to bid on offshore wind projects in France. In Germany, Pouyanne can get permits twice as fast.



"I don't understand," Pouyanne said, "why we're able to renovate Notre Dame Cathedral in five years and unable to build solar or wind plants at the same pace."



And yet - here's the kicker - even as he criticized his home country, TotalEnergies just won the contract for France's largest offshore wind farm ever.