The developers of Connecticut’s only offshore wind project, Revolution Wind, were ordered by the Trump administration late Friday to stop construction immediately.
The project is already 80% complete according to Ørsted, one of its developers.
It is designed to generate more than 700 megawatts of power — 305 megawatts to Connecticut and 400 to Rhode Island — and would provide power to the equivalent of about 350,000 homes.
This is the second time Trump officials have shut down an offshore wind project that was already under construction. President Donald J. Trump’s dislike of wind power is longstanding.
Friday afternoon, Ørsted received a letter from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, BOEM, ordering it to “halt all ongoing activities related to the Revolution Wind Project on the outer continental shelf.” It went on to say that this was to allow time for BOEM to address concerns that have arisen since President Trump’s inauguration day order to stop any new wind projects on federal properties and review all those underway.
Another part of the letter stated that: “In particular, BOEM is seeking to address concerns related to the protection of national security interests of the United States.”
Earlier in the week, the U.S. Commerce Department revealed it had opened an investigation the week before “to determine the effects on the national security of imports of wind turbines and their parts and components.” That announcement indicated the results could trigger steep tariffs or quotas “to protect national security.”
BOEM did not respond to emails or phone calls Friday night seeking further information about what the specific security issues were for Revolution Wind or whether the two investigations were related.
The BOEM letter to Ørsted also threatened further “corrective action” if the company did not comply.
Revolution has created about 1,200 direct jobs in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Eighty to 120 of them, depending on the activity level at any given time, are at State Pier in New London where much of the onshore work is being done.
The onshore transmission work for Revolution Wind began in the summer of 2023. All federal and state permits were secured in November 2023 and full construction began in early 2024. Presently all of the offshore foundations are in place and 45 of the 65 wind turbines are installed according to Ørsted. Work is slated to be completed by the end of 2026.
In a lengthy statement on its website Ørsted said it “is complying with the order and is taking appropriate steps to stop offshore activities, ensuring the safety of workers and the environment.”
The statement also said; “Ørsted is evaluating the potential financial implications of this development, considering a range of scenarios, including legal proceedings.”
So is Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, who said in a statement Friday night that “We are evaluating all legal options to protect Connecticut’s interests.”
“Trump wants to mothball billions of dollars in investment and cancel one of the best new sources of American-made, renewable energy. Trump and his enablers will own the resulting cost increases for ratepayers,” Tong said.
Reaction from the Lamont administration echoed this criticism.
“This political move by the Trump administration will drive up the cost of electricity bills and contradicts everything the administration has told us. It wastes years of state investment in renewable energy designed to diversify our energy supply and lower costs for families and businesses,” said Gov. Ned Lamont in a statement Saturday. “We are working closely with Rhode Island to save this project, because it represents exactly the kind of investment that reduces energy costs, strengthens regional production, and builds a more secure energy future, the very goals President Trump claims to support but undermines with this decision.”
Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal pointed to the potential impact on electric bills as well.
“The Trump Administration is canceling critical clean energy projects that would lower utility bills and have created good paying union jobs for our state’s workforce,” the Democratic senator said in a statement. “This arbitrary decision defies all logic and reason. Revolution Wind’s project was already well underway and employed hundreds of skilled tradesmen and women. This is a major setback for a critical project in Connecticut, and I will fight it.”
At the Conservation Law Foundation, which operates throughout New England, Kate Sinding Daly, the group’s senior vice president for law and policy said in a statement: “There is no evident legal basis for this, and it contravenes all common sense. Offshore wind represents the single most significant investment in clean, affordable energy for New England and this specious directive will not only deprive New Englanders of homegrown jobs but exposes us to higher energy bills and increasingly deadly extreme weather.”
Outrage was swift from a number of national groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council. Kit Kennedy, the group’s managing director for power called halting Revolution Wind “a devastating attack on workers, on electricity customers, and on the investment climate in the U.S.”
“This administration has it exactly backwards. It’s trying to prop up clunky, polluting coal plants while doing all it can to halt the fastest growing energy sources of the future – solar and wind power.”
Both have been targeted directly by the Trump administration in the recent reconciliation budget legislation. Their valuable federal tax credits are being eliminated along with other actions that will make them less financially worthwhile.
Only a handful of offshore wind projects remain in development, a sharp departure from the many the Biden administration had approved. It had been assumed those under construction would be safe, but in July the Interior Department announced that it would consider cancelling projects that were challenged in court. The next day, the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation filed suit on behalf of fishermen against a Massachusetts project – Vineyard Wind 1.
The first project stopped by the Trump administration was Empire Wind off New York, which was halted in April. That move was widely seen as a pressure tactic to get New York Governor Kathy Hochul to agree to allow a natural gas pipeline through the state. Hochul has said no deal was made.
That project was restarted after a month, but its developer, Equinor, came close to shutting it down and in the end the company indicated it cost them $1 billion.
Ørsted has had its own financial issues lately. Its stock nosedived earlier this month when the company said it would need more than $9 billion to help finance its only other offshore wind development, Sunrise Wind off Long Island.
American Clean Power CEO Jason Grumet posted online: “This is not the first time extreme partisan politics has derailed sound energy policy. The unfortunate message to investors is clear: the U.S. is no longer a reliable place for long-term energy investments,” he said.
Connecticut has had its own difficulties with offshore wind projects. A large, second project called Park City Wind was cancelled after inflation spurred by COVID and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused its developer, Avangrid, to pull out when its initial costs were no longer sustainable. In the last offshore wind solicitation at the end of the Biden administration, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection opted to forgo any new projects.
In a statement Friday night, Commissioner Katie Dykes called the stop-work order on Revolution “deeply disappointing.”
“Losing this much capacity means higher costs and less reliability for families and businesses in Connecticut and across New England, at a time when we urgently need more affordable, domestically produced energy to strengthen our regional grid,” Dykes said. “Connecticut remains committed to an all-of-the-above approach to energy, of which offshore wind is a promising and important part.”
This story was originally published by The Connecticut Mirror.
