Dive Brief:
- The 800-MW Vineyard Wind project offshore Massachusetts can resume construction, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, in another setback to the Trump administration’s efforts to halt offshore wind development with a Dec. 22 stop work order.
- Vineyard Wind is the fourth offshore wind project to receive an injunction against the stop work orders, which cited classified national security concerns as the reason for the pause. A fifth case is pending.
- Vineyard Wind said after the order was issued, it “repeatedly” reached out to confer with the relevant government agencies “to forge a path forward without litigation,” but that those agencies “refused to discuss the supposedly new information about national security impacts or what Vineyard Wind might do to mitigate them.”
Dive Insight:
Vineyard Wind’s developer says the project is 95% complete and partially operational – already delivering power to the grid. In its stop work order to the project, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management gave its developers permission to continue activities necessary for power generation but not more construction.
Judge Brian Murphy with the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted Vineyard Wind a stay against the stop work order during a Tuesday hearing. The preliminary injunction follows similar rulings in cases brought by Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, Revolution Wind and Empire Wind. Sunrise Wind is still awaiting a decision in court.
The Department of the Interior, which oversees the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, said at the time that last month’s stop work order was prompted by “national security risks” identified in “recently completed classified reports.”
Interior said the pause would give it, along with the Defense Department and other relevant government agencies, “time to work with leaseholders and state partners to assess the possibility of mitigating the national security risks posed by these projects.”
Dominion Energy, which is building the 2.6 GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, also accused the government of refusing to disclose the nature of the national security concerns behind the stop work order.
Vineyard Wind said in a court filing that the stop work order was costing it $2 million a day in direct and indirect costs and it was in danger of missing an important construction window if it didn’t receive relief by Friday.
“The remaining construction requires a specialized vessel that is available only until March 31, 2026,” Vineyard Wind said, and if an order had come any later than Jan. 30, there would not have been “sufficient time to complete the Project before the vessel departs.”
“The inability to timely complete construction of the Project in turn jeopardizes the revenues and financing necessary for the Project to remain viable, with resulting financial consequences from which Vineyard Wind likely could not recover,” it said.
Vineyard Wind is a joint venture between Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners being developed offshore Massachusetts. At the time of the stop work order, it was capable of producing 572 MW and had been delivering power to the state for almost a year, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, D, said in a Dec. 22 statement.
Vineyard Wind had also objected to the Trump administration’s refusal to allow the project to install replacement blades on 10 already constructed towers which stood bare at the time of the stop work order, posing a safety risk from factors like lightning strikes, the project alleged. Vineyard Wind was subject to controversy in July 2024 after a blade failed and detached from its turbine, scattering fiberglass in the ocean that washed up on Nantucket beaches.
In a Jan. 27 release following Murphy’s ruling, Vineyard Wind said, “As the legal process proceeds, Vineyard Wind will continue to work with the Administration to understand the matters raised in the Order.”
