Ørsted’s subsidiary Sunrise Wind LLC added its complaint to the challenges offshore wind developers have filed in federal court confronting the Trump administration’s Dec. 22 stop-work orders.
“While Sunrise Wind continues to seek to work constructively with the Administration and other stakeholders towards an expeditious and durable resolution of this matter, it believes that the lease suspension order violates applicable law,” the company said Jan. 7, echoing nearly identical actions filed by developers.
Those earlier complaints include Ørsted’s call for its Revolution Wind work permits to be restored on that project, said by backers to be 87% complete. Likewise, Dominion Energy is in court defending its Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, while Equinor is seeking to maintain Empire Wind off New York, around 66% complete.
For Sunrise Wind developers, their 924-megawatt rated project 30.5 miles east of Montauk, N.Y., is nearly 45% percent complete, with 44 of 84 monopile foundations installed along with an offshore converter station.
“Construction of the onshore electric infrastructure is substantially complete, and near-shore export cables have been installed,” according to a Jan. 7 statement by Sunrise Wind. “At the time of the lease suspension order, the project was expected to begin generating power as soon as October 2026.”
Like other East Coast win developers and industry advocates, the Sunrise Wind statement essentially contends the Trump administration has arbitrarily thrown out years of federal reviews and studies to assert that wind turbine arrays now poses a national security threat.
“Sunrise Wind secured all required local, state, and federal permits, following extensive multi-year reviews,” according to the developers. “As a requirement of the permitting process, the Project engaged in years-long consultation with the U.S. Department of Defense [War] Military Aviation and Installation Assurance Siting Clearinghouse to address potential impacts to national security and defense capabilities from construction through to operation of the project.”
“Those consultations 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 spent and committed billions of dollars in reliance upon, and has met the requests of, a thorough review process. Additional federal reviews and approvals included the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Marine Fisheries Service, and many other agencies.”
