‘Godfathers of wind’ raise alarm amid Trump’s attacks on renewables

Two European pioneers of the modern wind power industry are sounding the alarm on the Trump administration’s clean energy cutbacks, warning Washington’s anti-climate agenda is part of a broader energy transition challenge.

Denmark’s Henrik Stiesdal and Britain’s Andrew Garrad, often referred to as the “Godfathers of wind” for their contributions in advancing the design, manufacture and deployment of wind turbines, said Trump’s war on wind appears to be a symptom of more widespread climate apathy.

Stiesdal is known for framing the early design principles for wind turbines and led the installation of the world’s first offshore wind farm in 1991, while Garrad developed computer models to optimize and certify turbine and farm designs.

“I think Trump’s approach is symptomatic of a general shift,” Garrad said, in comments echoed by Stiesdal, one that is opposed to the transition from fossil fuels to renewable technologies, such as wind and solar.

“We are facing right now, a change of mood. We had a very easy beginning, then quite a big struggle, then general acceptance, and now the worm is turning. And that’s something which we all have to address,” Garrad told CNBC.

Since returning to office at the start of the year, U.S. President Donald Trump has actively sought to disrupt the development of high-profile wind projects. His push to wipe out the offshore wind industry has included stop-work orders and the removal of green incentives under former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.

“Trump is symptomatic. I mean an extreme symptom of that, but you can see it I think in all Western countries certainly, perhaps not elsewhere. And that’s a big issue,” Garrad said.

“This isn’t just a wind energy problem,” Garrad said. “To do this sort of change is a very dangerous thing. And I think it has shown that this is a political business … It’s a personal decision by a politician, who happens to be a rather powerful one — and it has sent shockwaves around the place.”

Trump’s onslaught against the wind industry has hit the business models of renewable energy giants particularly hard. Denmark’s Ortsed, the world’s biggest offshore wind farm group, is one notable example.

Last week, Orsted reported a net loss of 1.7 billion Danish kroner ($261.8 million) for the July-September period. The result, which was slightly better than analysts feared, was significantly down from profit of 5.17 billion Danish kroner in the same period last year.

Shares of the Copenhagen-listed company, which have fallen more than 80% from a 2021 peak, notched a fresh record low in August after the Trump administration ordered the company to halt work on a near complete windfarm.

Danish wind turbine firm Vestas has also been battling industry uncertainty, in part because of the Trump administration’s policies. When asked about some of these challenges, Vestas CEO Henrik Andersen said the company has a “well-established” supply chain in the U.S.

“For us, we see the U.S., both customers and the buildout in the U.S., as some of our core responsibility to help the U.S. with,” Andersen told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Nov. 5.

“Then sometimes maybe we have to get a bit of a slap that it is not everyone that likes the nature of a wind turbine. But I think, in general, … energy drives decision making and [the] cost of energy drives decision making,” he added.

Trump has repeatedly criticized the deployment of offshore wind turbines, describing them as “pathetic” and “expensive” in a recent speech at the United Nations General Assembly.

“I’m telling you that if you don’t get away from the green energy scam, your country is going to fail,” Trump said on Sept. 23. The U.S. president also said climate change is the “greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.”

Scientists have since condemned Trump’s characterization of climate change, pointing out that the overwhelming consensus is that climate change is already happening, with record-breaking heatwaves, flood events and hurricanes causing substantial economic damages across the globe.

Stiesdal, who refused to comment specifically on Trump’s war on wind, said there appears to be “a fundamental misunderstanding” from those firmly opposed to the energy transition.

“A lot of people who would be inclined to vote for hard-right parties actually benefit both from the job offerings and the cost of their energy from renewables,” Stiesdal said.

“It’s not an easy thing to fight because a lot of it is kind of visceral or fundamental in the thinking about this tribal approach,” he continued. “Whenever I am confronted with that, or with discussions about that, I try to emphasize energy security, the job creation, the local beneficial effects of doing renewables and the assurances you get in society.”

Stiesdal and Garrad were speaking to CNBC shortly before being presented with the 2024 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering. The prize was presented by King Charles III during a reception at St. James’s Palace in London earlier this month.