Trump allows New York offshore wind project after gas compromises

Norwegian energy company Equinor Will resume the construction on its offshore wind park in New York after the Trump government increased its commands to stop working on the project.

Empire Wind 1 will be the first offshore wind project that delivers electricity directly to New York City. The inner department of the bidges administration approved the project last year after Equinor signed a rental agreement from the Interior Ministry in 2017.

Interior Minister Doug Burgum, however, ordered that the construction of Empire Wind was stopped on April 16, and claimed that the bidet management had overturned the approval of the project “without sufficient analysis or consultation between the responsible agencies in connection with the potential effects”.

The arrangement of the stop work had raised fears among investors that the White House may be aimed at other wind projects that have already been approved and approved.

The New York governor Kathy Hochul said on Monday evening that Burgum and President Donald Trump agreed to raise the arrangement of the stop work and to advance the project after countless discussions with Equinor and Officials of the White House. Empire Wind supports 1,500 trade union jobs, said Hochul.

Equinor said it was aimed at performing planned installation activities this year and minimizing the effects of the stop work order in order to achieve the goal of starting commercial operation in 2027.

Burgum said that he was encouraged by Hochul's “willingness to promote the critical pipeline capacity”.

“Americans who live in New York and New England would achieve significant economic advantages and lower supply costs through increased access to reliable, affordable and clean American natural gas,” said the interior minister in a post on the social media platform X.

Hochul did not mention natural gas, although she “confirmed that New York will work with the administration and private units on new energy projects that meet the legal requirements” under state law. New York has a story of new natural gas pipelines.

Trump has targeted the wind industry, even though his agenda called for the United States to achieve energy dominance. At his first office, the President issued an executive order at his first office, which carried out new rental contracts for offshore wind in US waters and ordered a review of the leasing and approval practices.

Trump has a long history in which wind turbines decreased at least in 2012 and argue that they kill birds and cost more than they achieve in revenue.

Empire Wind 1 started construction in spring 2024 and is more than 30% complete. So far, Equinor has invested 2.5 billion US dollars in the project. The company plans to build 54 turbines that are up to 910 feet high. According to Equinor, Empire Wind 1 will generate 810 megawatts of electricity, which is sufficient to supply half a million houses with electricity.

The CFO of Equinor, Torgrim Reitan, described the command of the Trump government to stop the work illegally, exceptionally and unexpectedly during the company's profit on April 30 in the first quarter.

“We complied with this order. However, the order did not contain any information about the alleged shortcomings in the consent,” said Reitan.

There are three other offshore wind projects in the USA, all of which are on the east coast. They are revolution and sunrise wind in New England and Coastal Virginia offshore wind.

Dominion Energy It is confident that Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind is further progressing, said CEO Robert Blue about the company's profit call on May 1st. It is 55% complete and delivers electricity in early 2026, said Blue.

Orsted is still committed to revolution and Sunrise Wind, said CEO Rasmus Errboe about the company's earnings discussion on May 7. Revolution and sunrise are about 75% or 35%, said Erboe.