General – Court Case
A federal judge said Tuesday that a nearly finished offshore wind project in Massachusetts can proceed as the industry successfully challenges the Trump administration in court.
At U.S. District Court in Boston, Judge Brian Murphy paused the administration’s stop-work order for Vineyard Wind, citing the potential economic losses from the delays and the developers’ chances of winning their claims.
Vineyard Wind is one of five big offshore wind projects on the East Coast that the Trump administration froze days before Christmas, citing national security concerns — and the fourth that has since been allowed to go forward.
Vineyard Wind will focus on collaborating with its contractors, the federal government, and other relevant stakeholders and authorities to safely restart activities, as it continues to provide a critical new energy source to the New England region.
Developers and states sued seeking to block the administration’s order. Prior to Vineyard Wind’s hearing, federal judges had allowed three of the five to restart construction: the Revolution Wind project for Rhode Island and Connecticut by Danish company Orsted, the Empire Wind project for New York by Norwegian company Equinor, and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind for Virginia by Dominion Energy Virginia. Those three judges essentially concluded that the government did not show that the national security risk is so imminent that construction must halt.
Vineyard Wind is a joint venture between Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, located 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, Massachusetts. It is 95% complete and partially operational, able to produce nearly 600 megawatts of power for the New England electric grid, according to the complaint. Before the pause, it was on track to be complete by the end of March, with 62 turbines generating a total of 800 megawatts. That is enough clean electricity to power about 400,000 homes.
Lawyers representing Vineyard Wind 1 say that the project is 95% complete. Only one GE Vernova Haliade-X 13MW turbine remains to be installed, along with replacement blade sets for ten turbines.
DEME’s Sea Installer vessel is contracted to the project until 31 March and will depart afterwards.
