Industry players and advocates across the world of US offshore wind are celebrating after a district court judge granted an injunction against the Trump administration’s shutdown of Orsted and Skyborn’s 704MW Revolution Wind.
Oceantic Network CEO Liz Burdock said: “Today’s court ruling safeguards Americans from the crisis of rising energy demand and costs and ensures the U.S. can compete on a global stage for the digital evolution. The U.S. offshore wind industry has always worked closely with the federal government to ensure national security interests were prioritized in the siting and permitting of every project in federal waters.”
“Oceantic applauds this result to get the project moving again to deliver reliable, affordable power to communities across New England that desperately need it.”
Political leaders in Connecticut and Rhode Island, which have power purchase agreements with Orsted and Skyborn, also celebrated the decision.
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said: “This project should have never been shut down the first time or second time by the White House. Federal interference has stood in the way of lower energy costs and good-paying jobs, but today’s ruling puts Revolution Wind back on track.”
Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Dykes added: “Once again, the courts have confirmed what we already know, that the federal government’s efforts to stop the Revolution Wind project are nonsensical, arbitrary, and capricious.
“This is welcome news for the dedicated skilled labourers working on this project, and for Connecticut ratepayers, who stood to lose an estimated $500 million per year if this project were blocked.”
Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee added: “Rhode Island’s families are dealing with escalating energy costs, and they need relief sooner rather than later.
“Revolution Wind provides that relief in the form of affordable energy generated in our own backyard-energy that is on track to power 200,000 Rhode Island homes within the year.”
Revolution Wind was about 87% complete at the time of the shutdown order, with 58 out of 65 turbines installed, according to Orsted.
Attention will now turn to the other four projects covered by Trump’s shutdown order, including Equinor’s 810MW Empire Wind 1 and Dominion Energy’s 2.4GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind array, both of which have court hearings this week.
Signe Sørensen, lead analyst for the Americas at Aegir Insights, said: “This is a key victory not only for the likelihood that other projects will also successfully be able to fight their stop-work orders, but also because of the broader implication that the US courts still function as checks on politics.
“In this time, where uncertainty plagues the offshore wind sector in the US to a unprecedented degree, the courts are really the only thing left that the projects can turn to insulate them from the worst impacts of extreme politics.”
Equinor will make its case before a judge in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, while Dominion’s case will be heard in Virginia on Friday.