Revolution Wind, Empire Wind Sue to Reverse Trump Halt of Five Offshore Wind Projects

Builders of two $5-billion East Coast offshore wind vitality initiatives began 2026 with lawsuits in federal district courtroom in Washington, D.C., looking for to dam a Dec. 22 Trump administration order halting work on 5 main Atlantic wind initiatives on claimed nationwide safety grounds.

The Jan. 1 authorized response by house owners Orsted and Skyborn Renewables, a unit of personal investor BlackRock, seeks a preliminary injunction to dam the U.S. Inside Dept. lease suspension for the 704-MW Revolution Wind project, which the house owners say is 87% full and will begin producing energy to 350,000 Connecticut and Rhode Island customers this month. The builders additionally had challenged an August 2025 administration
stop-work order on the undertaking, which was overturned one month later by
federal courtroom motion.

In its Jan. 2 lawsuit, developer Equinor, Norway’s state-owned energy company, said it seeks the same injunction for the 810-MW Empire I wind undertaking, with estimated funding to this point of $4 billion and now at 60% completion off the New York coast, together with enlargement and improve of a Brooklyn, N.Y., meeting port. The undertaking, with 52 generators, every 15 MW. is ready to function in 2027,. The undertaking beforehand confronted a Trump-ordered shutdown in spring 2025 that lasted for a number of weeks till it was reversed, That change adopted discussions between the president and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), with unconfirmed stories that she agreed to contemplate new fuel pipelines within the state as a part of the association.

Each lawsuits search the injunctions to permit work to proceed whereas their case deserves proceed in courtroom—citing impacts to a workforce of hundreds presently on all of the initiatives that analysis group BloombergNEF has estimated as a $28 billion complete funding.

The authorized actions observe a Dec. 24 federal lawsuit against the order by Dominion Energy, which can be quickly to finish the estimated 2.6-GW, $11-billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind undertaking offshore of Virginia Seashore. A federal decide in Norfolk,Va. will hear that lawsuit on Jan. 16.  

In their new legal filing, Revolution Wind builders additionally assert that the work halt violates federal legal guidelines and would trigger substantial hurt to the undertaking, regardless of their said effort “to work constructively with the administration and different stakeholders” to resolve the dispute. The division didn’t specify what the dangers had been, but it surely stated they’ve been recognized beforehand as potential interference with navy radar. 

Equinor stated that “Empire Wind and its contractors are complying with the order, whereas persevering with actions required with a view to stop impacts to well being, security, and the surroundings.”

Orsted stated it “continues to weigh its choices” on authorized motion associated to the earlier-stage 924-MW Dawn Wind undertaking, additionally affected by the suspension and set to offer energy to Lengthy Island, N.Y. The 800-MW Winery Wind undertaking, now partially producing energy to Massachusetts, has but to publicly verify authorized motion.

In the meantime, earlier lawsuits by attorneys normal in Connecticut and Rhode Island towards the Revolution Wind stop-work order, which cite financial and environmental harms to the 2 states, had been consolidated final month within the D.C. federal courtroom motion. 

Revolution Wind builders say the undertaking “secured all required federal and state permits in 2023 after intensive critiques … and multi-year consultations” with the U.S. Air Power, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Military Corps of Engineers, Nationwide Marine Fisheries Service, U.S. Protection Dept. and different federal companies, leading to “formal agreements” that define “mitigation measures.”  Equinor said related actions taken and approvals gained in executing its Empire 1 undertaking lease in 2017. It is being developed underneath contract with the New York State Power Analysis and Improvement Authority (NYSERDA) to produce close to‑time period energy for New York Metropolis’s grid, the corporate stated.

All 65 Revolution Wind turbine foundations, in addition to offshore substations, export cables and 58 generators, every 11 MW, are put in, stated Orsted. The undertaking has 20-year energy buy agreements with utilities Eversource, United Illuminating and Nationwide Grid for vitality provide in Connecticut and Rhode Island, together with “supporting the rising energy wants of knowledge facilities and AI,” the corporate stated, including that unbiased grid operator ISO New England has warned “that halting the undertaking might improve electrical energy prices and decrease reliability for the area.”   

If the undertaking doesn’t start producing energy by Dec. 31, 2026, utilities might have the precise to terminate their energy contracts, in keeping with the Windfall Journal in Windfall, R.I. 

The earlier work stoppage additionally had price the undertaking greater than $2 million per day, Orsted stated.