The Trump administration has lifted an order that halted construction on a $5 billion wind energy project off the coast of New York.
A unit of energy giant Equinor ASA was informed by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management that the project can resume, according to a company statement late Monday. The project was paused in April when Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the Biden administration had rushed its approvals. The head of Equinor met with U.S. officials this month as part of a last-minute push to get it restarted.
The move ends a weeks-long saga that had thrown not just the project into question, but also placed serious doubts over the future of offshore wind in the US.
Wind energy has been a frequent target of President Donald Trump, so it’s no big surprise that it’s come under scrutiny. While many expected early-stage developments to be slowed or thwarted, it came as a shock to some the administration would stop a project in full swing.
“This is not normal,” said Michelle Solomon, a manager of electricity policy at energy and climate think tank Energy Innovation Policy and Technology LLC. “When the administration can just stop work on projects that have been fully permitted, gone through the right procedures and had billions of dollars invested, for any industry that’s alarming.”
In its statement, Equinor said it would provide an updated assessment of the project’s economics this quarter.
Surprise project halting
The project, called Empire 1, was fully permitted and slated to start commercial operation in 2027. Its 54 turbines were designed to power 500,000 homes.
Just a few years ago, the U.S. was seen as one of the most attractive growth markets for European energy companies looking to expand a technology developed in the North Sea. Now, soaring costs paired with political animosity have put the outlook for the US sector in doubt.
It’s a sharp reversal from the Biden administration, which had vowed to develop some 30 gigawatts of offshore wind in the US by 2030, a policy that led to billions of dollars of investment in projects and the supply chains needed to deliver them. States on the U.S. East Coast had seen the wind farms at sea as a key way to boost much-needed power supply growth as well as help reach climate goals.
Molly Morris, president of Equinor Renewables Americas, said in a May 12 interview with Bloomberg News that the administration’s moves on the Empire project represent something bigger than impact on the company or even offshore wind.
“It’s about honoring contracts and financial investments made in the US,” she said. “They are setting a dangerous precedent by stopping a project in mid-execution.”
