Ørsted to File for Another Preliminary Injunction Against Stop-Work Order in US

Ørsted will submit a motion for a preliminary injunction against the recently imposed construction halt for its Sunrise Wind project in the US, the company said on 7 January, several days after announcing the same legal action in relation to Revolution Wind, which the developer is building through a joint venture with Skyborn Renewables.

For Sunrise Wind, Ørsted is set to file a complaint in the US District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the lease suspension order issued by the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on 22 December 2025, which will be followed by a motion for a preliminary injunction. 

The company says that Sunrise Wind, being built off New York, is now nearly 45 per cent complete, with 44 of 84 monopile foundations, the offshore converter station, and nearshore export cables installed. The construction of the onshore electric infrastructure is also substantially complete, according to the developer.

At the time of the lease suspension order, the 924 MW project was expected to begin generating power in October 2026.     

Ørsted says Sunrise Wind “faces substantial harm from a continuation of the lease suspension order” and that litigation was a necessary step to protect the rights of the project. 

“Sunrise Wind secured all required local, state, and federal permits, following extensive multi-year reviews. As a requirement of the permitting process, the Project engaged in years-long consultation with the U.S. Department of Defense [War] Military Aviation and Installation Assurance Siting Clearinghouse to address potential impacts to national security and defense capabilities from construction through to operation of the Project. Those consultations resulted in a fully executed formal agreement between the Department of War, the Department of the Air Force, and Sunrise Wind outlining mitigation measures by the Project”, the company stated in a press release on 7 January.    

Located approximately 30 miles (approximately 48 kilometres) east of Montauk, New York, the offshore wind farm will comprise 84 Siemens Gamesa 11 MW wind turbines and will connect to the state’s electricity grid at the Holbrook substation in Brookhaven, Suffolk County. Sunrise Wind is the first offshore wind project in the US to use a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) system.

When Ørsted announced it would file for a preliminary injunction for Revolution Wind together with its partner Skyborn, the company said that the project was approximately 87 per cent complete and was expected to begin generating power this month.

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