TRUMP'S WAR ON WINDTURBINES
Ørsted Files Additional Lawsuit Challenging Stop-Work Order on Sunrise Wind
Danish offshore energy developer Ørsted has filed its second lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s December 2025 stop-work order on five under-construction wind farms along the U.S. Atlantic coast. The company says the latest suit challenges the lease suspension and is seeking a preliminary injunction against the stop-work order.
The suit follows a similar action filed by Ørsted last week as the joint owner of the Revolution Wind project. In addition, Equinor, which is developing the Empire Wind project, as well as Dominion Energy, which is developing Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, have also filed suits seeking injunctions. At the beginning of the week, Connecticut and Rhode Island also filed suit in support of Revolution Wind. A hearing is scheduled for next week on Dominion’s case, as all the companies seek injunctions so that they can resume work.
Ørsted asserts in its latest suit that the order “violates applicable law.” They call the suit a “necessary step,” saying the Sunrise Wind project faces “substantial harm from a continuation of the lease suspension.”
The Department of the Interior asserted in issuing the stop-work orders that new confidential studies showed increased dangers from the interference caused by the large wind turbine blades and the towers. They said the Department of War [Defense] had completed new studies, but did not provide details on the information.
The latest suit, like the previous filings, challenges the assertions, noting that the project seeks to work constructively with the administration and other stakeholders. They have each noted that their projects went through years of reviews during the permitting process. Sunrise Wind highlights that its consultations with the Department of Defense [War] and various military organizations 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.”
Sunrise Wind has a 25-year contract with the State of New York and is reported to be nearly 45 percent complete. It reports that 48 of the 84 monopile foundations have been installed, as well as the offshore converter station. Construction of the onshore electric infrastructure is substantially complete, while the near-shore cables have been installed. They report that the project was expected to begin generating power as soon as October 2026.
Ørsted has faced deep financial strains as the offshore wind industry dealt with increased costs and growing challenges. The company was forced to take large write-offs, citing the problems in the United States as one of the key challenges. Revolution Wind has been fighting the Trump administration since it received its first stop-work order in August, but won a court order that permitted work to resume, while the first case is being heard.
A coalition of states also won a court case against the Trump administration. The courts overruled Donald Trump’s Executive Order freezing the industry and starting a review. The court found it was a violation of procedural regulations, but the administration has continued its efforts to stop offshore wind as a form of renewable energy. The states argue they need to expand their generation and grid capacity and that the administration’s actions threaten the stability of the power grid and the economic growth efforts of the states.
Ørsted’s Sunrise Wind Sues U.S. Government Over Offshore Lease Halt
Ørsted’s U.S. offshore wind subsidiary Sunrise Wind LLC is taking legal action against the federal government after regulators ordered a suspension of its offshore wind lease late last year, escalating tensions between renewable developers and the current U.S. administration.
Sunrise Wind said it will file a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging a lease suspension order issued on December 22, 2025, by the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). The company also plans to seek a preliminary injunction to block the order while the case proceeds.
The developer argues that the suspension violates applicable law and places the Sunrise Wind project at risk of “substantial harm” if allowed to remain in force. While Sunrise Wind said it continues to seek a negotiated resolution with the administration, it described litigation as necessary to protect the project and its investments.
Sunrise Wind, a wholly owned subsidiary of Danish offshore wind major Ørsted, has already secured all required local, state, and federal permits after what it described as extensive multi-year environmental and regulatory reviews. As part of that process, the project underwent years of consultation with U.S. defense authorities to address potential national security and military aviation concerns.
Those discussions culminated in a formal mitigation agreement between Sunrise Wind, the Department of the Air Force, and defense authorities, clearing the project to proceed from construction through operations. Additional approvals were granted by agencies including the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and National Marine Fisheries Service.
Construction of the project is now well advanced. Sunrise Wind said the offshore wind farm is nearly 45% complete, with 44 of 84 monopile foundations already installed along with the offshore converter station. Onshore electrical infrastructure is largely finished, and near-shore export cables have been laid.
Before the lease suspension order was issued, Sunrise Wind expected the project to begin generating electricity as early as October 2026. Once fully operational in 2027, the wind farm is contracted to supply power to nearly 600,000 homes under a 25-year agreement with the State of New York.
The company warned that delaying or derailing the project could have broader implications for grid reliability at a time of rising electricity demand. Industry experts, Sunrise Wind said, have flagged increased risks to system reliability if projects like Sunrise Wind fail to come online as planned.
The legal challenge comes amid growing uncertainty for the U.S. offshore wind sector, which has faced cost inflation, supply chain disruptions, and increasing political scrutiny. While New York remains one of the most aggressive offshore wind markets in the country, federal policy signals have become less predictable, particularly around permitting and lease enforcement.
Sunrise Wind also emphasized the project’s economic footprint, noting that it has already supported thousands of U.S. jobs across construction, operations, shipbuilding, and manufacturing. More than 1,000 union workers have logged over one million union work hours on the project to date, according to the company. Ørsted’s broader U.S. investments span grid upgrades, port infrastructure, and a domestic supply chain reaching more than 40 states.
The Sunrise Wind lawsuit follows a similar move earlier this month by Revolution Wind LLC, a separate offshore wind developer jointly owned by Ørsted and Global Infrastructure Partners’ Skyborn Renewables. Revolution Wind filed its own challenge in the same federal court on January 1, 2026, signaling a coordinated legal pushback from offshore wind developers against recent federal actions.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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