Trump administration’s legal setbacks are good news for offshore wind — and the grid

The Trump administration suffered a series of legal setbacks this week after judges allowed work to restart on several offshore wind farms under construction on the East Coast.

The Department of the Interior had ordered a stop to five projects totaling 6 gigawatts of generating capacity in December, citing national security concerns. The judicial orders will allow three projects to resume construction: Revolution Wind off Rhode Island, Empire Wind off New York, and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind off — you guessed it — Virginia.

The developers each filed lawsuits shortly after the Trump administration issued the stop work order, which had been effective for 90 days.

When announcing the halt just days before Christmas, the government cited concerns the wind farms would interfere with radar operations. It’s a valid concern, and one the government and project developers grappled with throughout the siting and permitting process. Wind farms can be located to minimize disruption to existing radar facilities, and the radar equipment itself can be upgraded to filter out noise generated by whirling turbine blades.

President Trump himself has made it no secret that he’s not a fan of offshore wind: “I’m not much of a windmill person,” he told oil executives last week.

In early hearings, judges weren’t impressed with the government’s line of reasoning. In three separate courtrooms in Virginia and Washington, DC, the Trump administration’s arguments were met with skepticism.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, pointed out the government failed to address several of plaintiff Equinor’s arguments in its lawsuit. Equinor, which is developing Empire Wind, had alleged the Interior department’s order was “arbitrary and capricious.” “Your brief doesn’t even include the word arbitrary,” Nichols said, according to the Associated Press.

Nichols also questioned why the Trump administration was asking for construction to be halted when its main concern regarding national security appeared to be over the operation of the wind farm.

U.S. District Judge Jamar Walker, who heard Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind developer Dominion Energy’s lawsuit, questioned the government along a similar line. He also said the Interior department’s order was overly broad when viewed in context of the Virginia project.

Two projects remain in limbo as their lawsuits work their way through the courts. Ørsted, which is developing Sunrise Wind, has a hearing scheduled for February 2, while Vineyard Wind 1’s developers only filed their lawsuit on Thursday.

The East Coast could deliver up to 110 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2050, according to a Department of Energy study published in 2024. That would provide a significant boost to some of the most densely populated cities — and data center regions — in the country. The Northeast currently has some of the highest electricity costs in the nation, while the Mid-Atlantic’s grid operator has recently come under fire for rising electricity prices in its territory. Offshore wind, as one of the cheapest forms of new generating capacity, has the potential to slow or reverse the trend.

The potential is even bigger when viewed on a national scale. Offshore wind could generate 13,500 terawatt-hours of electricity per year, which is three times more than the U.S. currently consumes.