A U.S. federal court has granted an injunction preventing enforcement of President Donald Trump’s order to halt construction of Equinor’s 810 megawatt Empire Wind 1 offshore wind project, clearing the way for work to resume, the developer said.
Equinor said it would now move to restart construction activities that were suspended under the shutdown order while continuing discussions with federal authorities.
“Empire Wind will now focus on safely restarting construction activities that were halted during the suspension period,” the company said in a statement. “In addition, the project will continue to engage with the U.S. government to ensure the safe, secure and responsible execution of its operations.”
In earlier court filings, Equinor warned that the project faced significant risk if construction did not resume promptly. The company said the installation schedule for the offshore substation was particularly constrained and that a failure to restart work by Jan. 16 would make cancellation “likely”.
Empire Wind 1 is the second U.S. offshore wind project this week to secure an injunction against the Trump administration’s suspension of construction activity. On Monday, Ørsted won a similar ruling allowing work to continue on its 704 MW Revolution Wind project.
Another major offshore wind developer, Dominion Energy, is also challenging the shutdown. The company’s 2.4 gigawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is scheduled to present its case before a Virginia judge on Thursday.
The legal actions come amid heightened uncertainty for the U.S. offshore wind sector, as developers seek to protect projects already under construction from federal intervention.
