Another US Offshore Wind Project Cleared to Resume Construction

The US District Court for the District of Columbia has granted a preliminary injunction sought by Equinor for its Empire Wind 1 offshore wind farm, allowing construction activities to resume on the project that was more than 60 per cent complete at the time when the US government issued a stop-work order in December 2025.

Equinor said on 15 January that its underlying lawsuit challenging the US Department of the Interior’s (DOI) suspension order will continue to proceed.

“Empire Wind will now focus on safely restarting construction activities that were halted during the suspension period. In addition, the project will continue to engage with the U.S. government to ensure the safe, secure and responsible execution of its operations”, the company said.

Empire Offshore Wind LLC, an Equinor subsidiary, filed a civil suit against the order that suspended construction on five offshore wind projects, including its Empire Wind 1, on 2 January 2026. As part of that case, the company filed for a preliminary injunction to allow construction to continue while the litigation proceeds.

Located 25-48 kilometres (15-30 miles) southeast of Long Island, Empire Wind 1 will comprise 54 Vestas 15 MW wind turbines and is planned to produce first power in late 2026, with full commissioning in 2027.

The 810 MW Empire Wind 1 has a contract with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to deliver electricity for New York and is the first offshore wind farm to connect to New York City’s grid.

On 9 January, New York Attorney General (AG) Letitia James also filed lawsuits against the DOI’s stop-work order for two of the state’s offshore wind farms under construction, Empire Wind 1 and Ørsted’s Sunrise Wind, which together are expected to power more than one million New York homes.

The clearance for Equinor to resume Empire Wind 1 construction comes shortly after the US District Court for the District of Columbia granted a preliminary injunction to the joint venture between Ørsted and Skyborn Renewables for the Revolution Wind project, which had only seven wind turbines to install when it was ordered to pause construction by the US government.

Once commissioned, the 704 MW Revolution Wind is set to power Connecticut and Rhode Island, with first power expected to be produced soon.

The stop-work order affects five large-scale projects under construction in US federal waters, with Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW), Sunrise Wind, and Vineyard Wind 1 still subject to the construction pause and lease suspension.

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