The administration of US President Donald Trump has issued an order to halt work on five offshore leases.
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said: “Today’s action addresses emerging national security risks, including the rapid evolution of the relevant adversary technologies, and the vulnerabilities created by large-scale offshore wind projects with proximity near our east coast population centers.”
The department added that that pause on work will allow for “time to work with leaseholders and state partners to assess the possibility of mitigating the national security risks posed by these projects”.
The farms under construction include Orsted’s 704MW Revolution Wind, the 924MW Sunrise Wind, CIP and Avangrid’s 806MW Vineyard Wind 1, the 2.6GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, and Equinor’s 810MW Empire Wind 1.
An Equinor spokesperson said: “We are aware of the stop work order announced by the Department of Interior involving five wind projects under offshore construction in the US.
We are evaluating the order and seeking further information from the federal government.”
Oceantic Network CEO Liz Burdock said: “The Trump Administration’s construction pause issued today on five U.S. offshore wind projects set to deliver nearly 6 GW of much-needed power is another veiled attempt to hide the fact that the President doesn’t like offshore wind – a well-documented preference that is increasing energy costs for millions of Americans, deterring U.S investment, and putting thousands out of work indefinitely.”
She added: “This newest claim contradicts years of rigorous, interagency reviews, as these projects have already passed explicit clearances from the Department of Defense and the Pentagon before construction began.”
A Dominion Energy spokesperson said: “Stopping CVOW for any length of time will threaten grid reliability for some of the nation’s most important war fighting, AI, and civilian assets. …
“The project has been more than ten years in the works, involved close coordination with the military, and is located 27 to 44 miles offshore, so far offshore it does not raise visual impact concerns.”
The Dominion spokesperson said that the company is “ready to do what is necessary to get these vital electrons flowing as quickly as possible”.