Ørsted files legal challenge against US government over windfarm lease freeze | Ørsted
Europe’s largest offshore wind developer is suing the Trump administration over its decision to suspend work on a $5 billion project on the northeast coast of the United States.
Danish company Ørsted filed a legal challenge Thursday against the White House’s decision 10 days ago to suspend the lease of its Revolution Wind site as part of a sweeping move to halt all offshore wind power construction.
The attempted injunction is the latest in a series of legal volleys between the renewable energy industry and Donald Trump, whose administration has sought to block large offshore wind projects from moving forward since his re-election.
Trump, a strong supporter of the fossil fuel industry, opposes renewable energy, and particularly wind power, saying he finds turbines ugly, expensive and inefficient.
On December 22, Interior Department officials suspended leases for five large offshore wind projects under construction in U.S. waters due to unspecified “national security risks.”
A statement from Ørsted and its partner in the Revolution project, Skyborn Renewables, described the move as a violation of applicable law.
“Litigation is a necessary step to protect the project’s rights” and avoid “substantial harm” to the project if the suspension order remained in effect, according to the statement.
“Revolution Wind obtained all required federal and state permits in 2023, following extensive reviews that began more than nine years ago,” it says.
The move came months after the Trump administration issued a “stop work order” against construction of the Revolution project in August, citing the need to “address concerns related to protecting national security interests.”
The halt in construction sent shockwaves through the industry and pushed the market value of Ørsted, which is partly owned by the Danish state, to record levels. No details on national security concerns were provided by the White House, and a few weeks later a federal judge allowed Ørsted to resume work on the project.
At the time, Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island senator and ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said: “If Trump’s plan is to raise energy prices for families, kill American jobs, accelerate climate change and accelerate the great climate insurance crisis, he is knocking it out of the park with his all-out attack on American offshore wind.” »
Construction is now nearly 90% complete, and the site was expected to begin providing “reliable, affordable energy” to U.S. homes in 2026. Ørsted said it has already installed all of the offshore foundations and 58 of the project’s 65 wind turbines.
Ørsted’s shares, which had plunged another 12% after the Dec. 22 announcement, rose nearly 4% on Friday upon news of the trial.
