The move follows Jan. 12 decision to lift stop work ordere on $6.2B Revolution Wind project
In a much-anticipated decision Jan. 15, the federal district court in Washington, D.C., revoked a construction shutdown ordered by the Trump administration against another major East Coast offshore wind project—the $5-billion Empire Wind underway south of New York City. The project’s developer, Norway-based Equinor, won a stay and preliminary injunction in response to its lawsuit and one from the state, which aims to direct most of the project’s planned 810 MW of power generation to the city’s metro area.
The ruling, which followed a Jan. 14 hearing before Judge Carl Nichols, directs construction to resume and continue while the underlying case proceeds in court. The suits were filed soon after the U.S. Interior Dept. issued its Dec. 22 stop-work order for five East Coast offshore wind projects, claiming new «national security» risks identified in a U.S. Defense Dept. report.
“Empire Wind has demonstrated that it will suffer irreparable harm,” said the judge, appointed to the role by President Donald Trump. The project, which features 54 turbines manufactured by Vestas with each rated at 15 MW, is 60% complete and set to deliver first power this year, with full commercial operation set for 2027. Equinor has said in public statements it would have been forced to shut down the project without the legal reprieve.
The stop-work also affects another New York project, the 924-MW Sunrise Wind installation being developed by Denmark-based developer Orsted that is about 40% complete, as well as that firm’s 704-MW Revolution Wind and the 800-MW Vineyard Wind project being built by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Spanish developer Iberdrola—both in New England. The 2.6-GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project off Virginia Beach was also included in the administration-ordered halt.
The estimated $6.2-billion Revolution Wind was granted a reprieve on Jan. 12 by another judge in the D.C. court, Royce Lamberth, who termed the order “unreasonable [and] seemingly unjustified.”
The estimated $11-billion CVOW project and its developer Dominion Energy, have a hearing scheduled for Jan. 16 in the federal district court in Norfolk for its own lawsuit challenging the stop-work order. «CVOW should also be allowed to continue, now that a legal precedent has been set in the federal district court,» says industry analyst Philip Totaro, CEO of IntelStor LLC, who adds that Vineyard Wind joined the group with a suit filed on Jan. 15 in U.S. district court in Boston to restart construction. «They were likely waiting for the outcome of these other matters,» he said.
In a statement, Equinor said Empire Wind «will now focus on safely restarting construction activities that were halted during the suspension period [and] continue to engage with the U.S. government to ensure the safe, secure and responsible execution of its operations.»
In its legal filings and court appearance, Equinor stressed that the project could be cancelled if work was shut down past Jan. 16. Molly Morris, its U.S. operations president, said that the specialized heavy lift vessel manufactured by Netherlands-based Heerema Marine Contractor must begin lifting the project’s offshore substation 3,000-lb topside onto its foundation since the ship is set to leave Empire Wind by Feb. 1 for other committed projects.
She added that federal officials have not explained to the project team their national security concerns or how to mitigate them.
Judge Nichols also noted the lack of detail from federal filings and officials related to national security risks during construction as opposed to operation. “We have been clear and consistent that we are ready to address any additional security concerns that were not already addressed through our lengthy engagement with various defense agencies,” Morris said.
Federal officials did not comment on the ruling,
This was the second shutdown issued to Empire Wind in the past year, after it received an April 15, 2025 federal stop work that lasted about one month until it was ended following negotiations between Trump and N.Y. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) related to potential renewed plans for added natural gas pipelines in New York.
Equinor has spent about $4 billion to develop and construct Empire Wind, including a major overhaul of the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal in Brooklyn, N.Y., «into one of the largest dedicated offshore wind ports in the USA,» it said, with Skanska as its contractor. Equinor finalized the federal lease for Empire Wind in March 2017, early in Trump’s first term, with final U.S. approval in February 2024.
