RWE is putting its business with offshore wind farms in the USA on hold due to regulatory uncertainties under President Trump. „In the USA, where we have stopped our offshore activities for the time being, our business with onshore wind, solar energy and battery storage has developed very dynamically so far,“ CEO Markus Krebber said at the virtual Annual General Meeting on 30 April.

The group remains cautious in view of the political developments, and notes that "we have higher requirements for future investments in the USA.“ All authorisations required from federal authorities must be in place. Tax incentives must be secured and the customs risk must be taken into account.

In addition, onshore projects must have a secure power supply agreement at the time of the investment decision. Further investments are only possible under these conditions. With 10 gigawatts (GW) of installed capacity, a pipeline of 22 GW and more than 1,500 employees, RWE is the fourth-largest green energy company in the USA and the second-largest owner of solar plants.

In addition to the offshore expansion stop, Krebber holds out the prospect of further share buybacks – in addition to the 1.5 billion euros in buybacks planned by mid-2026. The RWE share price is up this year, but its market capitalisation has fallen by a quarter to 25 billion euros since 2022. The biggest shareholders are several cities in the Ruhr region with more than 10%, and Qatar Holding with 9.1%. The activist investor Elliott, which is calling for more and faster share buybacks, holds almost 5%. RWE had previously cut its planned investments until 2030 by 10 billion euros.

The US offshore activities could still result in considerable write-downs for the group. The three US offshore wind farms are on the books at a value of 1.3 billion euros. This amount is likely to correspond to the investments made to date. RWE is late with the expansion halt: competitors Orsted from Denmark, Equinor from Norway and EDPR from Portugal have long since written off billions and slowed down their US offshore business. RWE CEO Krebber has so far not been greatly affected by the US adventure. His contract runs until 2026 and will probably be extended under the designated Supervisory Board Chairman Frank Appel.

Even before he took office, Donald Trump had promised that no new wind turbines would be built under his leadership. „Wind power is expensive, kills whales and all the turbines come from China,“ said the US President. In 2023, RWE bought the renewables division of Con Edison Energy in the USA for 7 billion euros. The German company secured projects totalling 6 GW, including Community Ventures, the largest project with 3 GW in New York Bay, the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Northern California.

„Krebber's strategy has failed,“ says Benedikt Kormaier from Enkraft Capital, which holds one million RWE shares. „By expanding in the USA, the RWE Executive Board has unnecessarily taken on major risks. Far from home, RWE will be at the mercy of Trump's highly unpredictable decisions.“