Saving Seafood

Survey seeks impact of offshore wind power on seafood businesses

August 5, 2026 — Looking ahead to potential offshore wind energy development along the East Coast, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) says researchers are surveying Northeast and Mid-Atlantic shoreside businesses to “quantify the economic value of the coastal economy in advance of potential offshore wind development.

VIMS is asking seafood processors, dealers, wholesalers, distributors and other first-sale seafood businesses from Massachusetts to Virginia are to participate in the “Seafood First Sale Value Added Survey.”

The project is funded by a grant from the Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCEMFIS), a member of the National Science Foundation’s Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers program. The science center brings together marine scientists and members of the commercial fishing and wind energy industries to collaborate on fisheries research.

The survey is designed to “address the existing information gaps in how offshore wind development may affect shoreside businesses and local fishing economies,” according to a statement from the center.

Despite the offshore wind industry’s economic turmoil – and determined political and policy opposition from the Trump administration – plans for turbine arrays off southern New England and the Mid-Atlantic have survived.

Revolution Wind developer Eversource Energy  said it incurred a $164 million after-tax charge from construction cost increases as it battled the Trump administration’s stop-work orders on the project.

Notably Dominion Energy recently said its 2.6-gigawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is 81% built out, and completion is expected by the end of 2027.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

VIRGINIA: Dominion says Virginia offshore wind project 81% complete

August 4, 2026 — Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is 81% complete and anticipated for completion at the end of 2027 – six months beyond the company’s earlier time frame and at least $228 million over cost estimate, thanks to tariffs and network upgrade costs assigned by PJM Interconnection grid operations.

In a second-quarter earnings call July 31, Dominion president Bob Blue said tariffs on steel and aluminum added to the $11.6 billion, 2.6 gigawatt array.

Blue cited weather, moving equipment onsite and longer installation times for the planned 176 Siemens Gamesa 14 MW turbines among factors in the revised schedule.

Read the full article at WorkBoat

VIRGINIA: Dominion to open nation’s biggest offshore wind farm next year

May 4, 2026 — The largest offshore wind project under construction in the U.S. has nine turbines in the water and is on track to begin operating next year.

The update by Dominion Energy on its sprawling project called Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind came as the utility reported strong growth in power demand from data centers. Company executives also expressed enthusiasm in Virginia’s new energy storage targets and said the utility had submitted a bid to extend a long-term power contract for its nuclear power plant in Connecticut.

But the offshore wind project headlined Dominion’s financial update with analysts Friday. The Trump administration temporarily halted construction of the 2,600-megawatt project late last year. Construction resumed in January after Dominion successfully sued the government. The project’s first turbine began spinning in March.

Read the full article at E&E News

VIRGINIA: Virginia Beach offshore wind farm has started producing electricity

March 26, 2026 — Dominion Energy’s wind farm off the Virginia Beach coast sent its first batch of power to the regional electric grid on Monday, the company confirmed.

The $11 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, or CVOW, stretches from about 27 to 44 miles off the Oceanfront and will be the nation’s largest commercial offshore wind farm.

The first fully completed turbine began spinning this week, generating just under 15 megawatts of power, enough to cover about 3,675 homes. The energy moves through undersea cables that connect with onshore transmission infrastructure at State Military Reservation in Virginia Beach.

“This marks another major milestone for the project, adding much-needed electricity to help serve the fastest-growing power demand in the country,” spokesperson Jeremy Slayton said in an email.

Read the full article at VPM

U.S. Offshore Wind Projects Report Progress After Resuming Offshore Work

February 26, 2026 — Three of the five offshore wind projects under construction in the northeast U.S. have each signaled this week strong progress. It comes after each project received preliminary injunctions against the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which had imposed stop-work orders in late December.

Speaking to investors on February 25, the executives of Iberdrola, one of the partners in Vineyard Wind 1 off the coast of Massachusetts, said as far as they are concerned, the project is complete. Executive Chairman Ignacio Galan said as an engineer, he sees the project as completed while confirming that 60 of the 62 wind turbines are now fully installed. CEO Pedro Azagra added that the project is between 80 and 85 percent operational, with between 52 and 55 of the turbines exporting electricity to the grid. They reported that the final two turbines would be installed in the coming days.

Reports have said the wind turbine installation vessel was contracted only until the end of February. It will need to depart promptly for its next assignment.

Speaking to investors earlier in the week, the executives of Dominion Energy also highlighted progress on the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project near Virginia Beach. They said the progress on fabrication is excellent, with around 70 percent of the towers and 30 percent of the blades fabricated, which tracks well with the schedule.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

Trump cites national security risk to defend wind freeze in court

January 12, 2026 — The Interior Department is defending its decision to halt construction of the Revolution Wind project off the coasts of Rhode Island and Connecticut over alleged national security concerns.

The agency is facing a flurry of legal challenges after Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management ordered a 90-day pause on construction for the New England energy farm, along with four other offshore wind projects along the Eastern Seaboard. Those projects are Empire Wind 1, Sunrise Wind, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind and Vineyard Wind 1.

The agency decided the Dec. 22 order was necessary after the Department of Defense (renamed the Department of War by President Donald Trump) issued a classified report late last year about the security risks of offshore wind, Justice Department attorneys said in a Thursday brief to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Read the full article at E&E News

Offshore Wind Projects Challenge Trump Administration’s Order to Stop Work

January 5, 2026 — Developers of five offshore wind farms that were ordered last week by the Trump administration to halt construction are suing to restart work on at least three of the projects.

The Interior Department on Dec. 22 ordered companies to halt work on five wind farms in various stages of construction along the East Coast. They were: Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind, both off the coast of New York; Revolution Wind off Rhode Island and Connecticut; Vineyard Wind 1 off the coast of Massachusetts; and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind off Virginia.

The administration cited unspecified national security concerns about the projects.

On Thursday, Orsted, the Danish energy giant that is building Revolution Wind, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. On Friday Equinor, the developer of Empire Wind, did the same.

Both companies said they are seeking preliminary injunctions that would allow construction to continue as the litigation proceeds. Orsted is also building Sunrise Wind and said it was considering a similar legal challenge to restart work on that project, too.

Read the full article at The New York Times

 

Trump Halts Revolution Wind Work for Second Time

December 23, 2025 — The Trump administration on Monday ordered a halt to construction on five East Coast offshore wind projects, including Rhode Island’s Revolution Wind.

The Interior Department said it is pausing all leases for large-scale offshore wind projects that are currently under construction, affecting the Vineyard Wind 1, Revolution Wind, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind 1 projects.

U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner of Rhode Island, a member of the House Natural Resources Committee, said Monday, “At a time when working people in Rhode Island are struggling with high costs on everything, Trump should not be canceling energy projects that are nearly ready to deliver reliable power to the grid at below-market rates and help lower costs.”

The Revolution Wind project, located 15 miles off Rhode Island’s shore and 85% complete, was expected to deliver enough electricity to the New England grid to power 350,000 homes, or 2.5% of the region’s electricity supply, beginning in 2026. Revolution Wind was projected to save Connecticut and Rhode Island ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars over 20 years.

Christian Roselund, co-leader of Climate Action Rhode Island’s Yes to Wind campaign, said Monday, “Donald Trump is getting desperate. The Trump administration’s new attempt to freeze offshore wind projects under construction – after courts quickly threw out the last stop work order on Revolution Wind – shows again that he doesn’t understand what it means to be a U.S. president and that he wants instead to be a dictator.”

Read the full article at EcoRI

Kennedy orders CDC study of potential offshore wind hazards

November 3, 2025 — Voters are choosing new governors Tuesday in Virginia and New Jersey, states where ambitious plans for offshore wind projects run against the Trump administration’s political and legal war on renewable energy projects.

Days before, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. directed the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate potential health and safety hazards from offshore wind turbines, a new front in the Trump administration’s offensive to squelch wind power development.

The administration and its executive departments like HHS have effectively derailed many of the wind industry’s earlier project approvals granted under the Biden administration. But some ongoing construction projects survive, notably Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project (CVOW), as power demands and costs escalate in the Mid-Atlantic states. Kennedy’s new review could revisit longstanding health and safety claims by offshore wind opponents, including electromagnetic effects of turbine array cables and transmission lines.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

First US offshore wind ship arrives for work amid Trump attacks

September 22, 2025 — The first American-made offshore wind installation vessel is ready to work, just as the Trump administration is making moves to shut the industry down.

The Charybdis, a turbine installation ship named for the sea monster from Greek mythology, arrived at Portsmouth Marine Terminal in Virginia last week. The $715 million vessel is set to begin erecting turbines next month at the country’s largest marine wind farm, named the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project.

The Charybdis’ arrival marks a significant logistical and symbolic milestone for the U.S. offshore wind sector at a moment when the industry is under siege from President Donald Trump.

Read the full article at E&E News