‘Godfathers of wind’ raise alarm amid Trump’s attacks on renewables
U.S. President Donald Trump (left) stands in front of Turbines at the European Offshore Wind Distribution Centre, also known as the Aberdeen Bay Wind Farm, walks onto the first fairway after teeing off to officially open the Trump International Golf Links course in Aberdeenshire in Balmedie, Northeast Scotland, on July 29, 2025.
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Two European pioneers of the modern wind energy industry are sounding the alarm over the Trump administration’s clean energy cuts, warning that Washington’s anti-climate agenda is part of a broader fight for energy transition.
Denmark’s Henrik Stiesdal and Britain’s Andrew Garrad often say “fathers of the wind“For his contributions to advancing the design, manufacturing and deployment of wind turbines, Trump’s war on wind appears to be a more widespread symptom of climate apathy,” he said.
Stiesdal is credited with establishing the first design principles for wind turbines and pioneered the installation of the world’s first offshore wind farm in 1991, while Garrad developed computer models to optimize and validate turbine and farm designs.
Garrad said, “I think Trump’s approach is a symptom of a general change,” in a comment also made by Stiesdal, who opposes the transition from fossil fuels to renewable technologies such as wind and solar.
Garrad told CNBC: “We’re facing a mood swing right now. We had a very easy start, then we had a pretty big struggle, then we gained mainstream acceptance and now the worm is turning. And that’s something we all have to address.”
Since returning to office at the beginning of the year, US President Donald Trump has actively sought to block the development of high-profile wind projects. The effort to destroy the offshore wind industry included stop-work orders and the elimination of green incentives under former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
“Trump is symptomatic. So he’s an extreme symptom of this, but I think you can definitely see it in all Western countries, maybe not elsewhere. And it’s a big problem,” Garrad said.
“This is not just a wind energy issue,” Garrad said. “It’s a very dangerous thing to make that kind of change. And I think it showed that this was a political thing… This was a personal decision by a pretty powerful politician, and it sent shockwaves around.”
‘Pathetic’ and ‘expensive’
Trump’s attack on the wind industry has hit the business models of renewable energy giants particularly hard. Denmark’s Ortsed, the world’s largest offshore wind farm group, is a notable example.
The Copenhagen-listed company’s shares, which have fallen more than 80% from their 2021 peak, hit a new record low in August after the Trump administration ordered the company to halt work on the wind farm almost entirely.
A turbine blade is lifted onto a rack near tower sections at the Revolution Wind project assembly site at State Pier on Friday, October 24, 2025 in New London, Connecticut, United States.
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Danish wind turbine company Vestas is also struggling with uncertainty in the industry, due in part to 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 US
“For us, we see the United States, both our customers and development in the United States, as our primary responsibility to help the United States,” Andersen said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Nov. 5.
“Then maybe we need to take a bit of a swipe at the fact that not everyone likes the nature of the wind turbine. But overall, I think energy drives decision-making and [the] “The cost of energy drives decision-making,” he added.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the United Nations headquarters in New York City on September 23, 2025.
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Trump repeatedly criticized the deployment of offshore wind turbines in a recent speech to the United Nations General Assembly, calling them “pathetic” and “expensive.”
“I’m telling you if you don’t move away from the green energy scam, your country will fail,” Trump said on September 23. The US president also said climate change was “the greatest fraud ever committed in the world”.
Scientists have since condemned Trump’s definition of climate change; It points to the overwhelming consensus that climate change is already occurring, with record-breaking heatwaves, floods and hurricanes to cause Huge economic losses worldwide.
energy security
Stiesdal, who declined to comment specifically on Trump’s war against wind, said there appears to be a “fundamental misunderstanding” among those staunchly opposed to the energy transition.
“Many people who tend to vote for far-right parties actually benefit from both the job offers and the renewable energy costs of their energy,” Stiesdal said.
“Fighting is not an easy thing to do because a lot of it is visceral or fundamental in the thinking about this tribal approach,” he continued. “Whenever I come across this or have discussions about it, I try to emphasize energy security, job creation, the local beneficial effects of producing renewable energy and the reassurances you get in the community.”
King Charles III (centre) poses for a group photo after presenting the 2024 Queen Elizabeth Engineering Prize to Andrew Garrad CBE (left) and Henrik Stiesdal for their achievements in advancing the design, production and deployment of modern wind energy technology during the 2025 Queen Elizabeth Engineering Prize reception at St James’s Palace on November 5, 2025 in London, England.
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Stiesdal and Garrad were speaking to CNBC shortly before their arrest. presented Won the 2024 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering. The award was presented to St. Louis in London earlier this month. During the reception held at James Palace, King Henry III. Presented by Charles.
