French energy giant Engie has started to slow down approvals for new renewable energy projects in the United States, due to heightened uncertainty about supply chain costs amid the tariff chaos, the company’s chief financial officer Pierre-Francois Riolacci said on Thursday.
Engie, a top European gas network operator and a major player in building a renewable energy portfolio globally, had 101 projects under construction globally as at March 31, 2025, representing a total renewable installed capacity of 8.5 gigawatts (GW).
Projects under construction in the United States, totaling 2.0 GW, “are to a very large extent protected against tariff increase,” Engie said in its first-quarter earnings release today.
The projects currently in development in the U.S. will not be affected, Riolacci told reporters, as carried by Reuters.
However, Engie is slowing approvals of new U.S. projects due to uncertainties about tariffs and the provisions of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which is targeted for repeal by the Trump Administration.
Engie sees clarity on the IRA as an important driver of future final investment decisions in the U.S., chief executive officer Catherine MacGregor said.
The Trump Administration’s energy and tariff policies have created headwinds for major energy groups developing or willing to develop renewable energy projects in the United States.
Last month, the U.S. Department of the Interior ordered the suspension of construction works at Equinor’s Empire Wind offshore project in New York, saying the project may have been approved by the previous administration without an appropriate environmental assessment.
Equinor obtained the lease in 2017, and the project was fully permitted in 2024.
The Norwegian major is now considering its legal options after the Trump Administration ordered Empire Wind halted, CEO Anders Opedal said.
“We have invested in Empire Wind after obtaining all necessary approvals, and the order to halt work now is unprecedented and in our view unlawful,” Opedal said in the company’s Q1 earnings release.
By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com
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