Saving Seafood

Troubled Wind Developer Orsted to Cut 25% of Staff

October 9, 2025 — Orsted, the Danish renewable energy developer, said on Thursday that it would cut about 2,000 jobs, or around 25 percent of its work force, over the next two years.

The move was the latest sign of the diminished prospects for offshore wind, a low-emissions technology that Orsted helped pioneer.

“We’ll be saying goodbye to many skilled and valued colleagues,” Rasmus Errboe, Orsted’s chief executive, said in a statement.

Not long ago, Orsted looked on its way to becoming a global giant in the renewable energy industry, with a portfolio that includes high-profile projects in the United States. Now, the company suggested that it would dial back those aspirations and hunker down in its home base of Europe.

Read the full article on The New York Times

Federal judge lifts Trump administration’s halt of nearly complete offshore wind farm in New England

September 23, 2025 — A federal judge ruled Monday that a nearly complete offshore wind project halted by the administration can resume, dealing President Donald Trump a setback in his ongoing effort to restrict the fledgling industry.

Work on the nearly completed Revolution Wind project for Rhode Island and Connecticut has been paused since Aug. 22 when the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued a stop-work order for what it said were national security concerns. The Interior Department agency did not specify those concerns at the time. Both the developer and the two states sued in federal courts.

Danish energy company Orsted and its joint venture partner Skyborn Renewables sought a preliminary injunction in U.S. District Court that would allow them to move forward with the project.

At a hearing Monday, Judge Royce Lamberth said he considered how Revolution Wind has relied on its federal approval, the delays are costing $2.3 million a day and if the project can’t meet deadlines, the entire enterprise could collapse. After December, the specialized ship needed to complete the project won’t be available until at least 2028, he said. More than 1,000 people have been working on the wind farm, which is 80% complete.

Read the full article at The Associated Press

US district judge lifts stop-work order on Ørsted offshore wind project

Sptember 23, 2025 — A U.S. judge has lifted a stop-work order on Ørsted’s Revolution Wind project, a large offshore wind installation off the nation’s East Coast.

The Revolution Wind project, which is being built off the coast of the U.S. state of Rhode Island, was halted in August after the Bureau of Energy Ocean Management (BOEM) issued a stop-work order, just weeks after it also canceled all offshore Wind Energy Area designations. BOEM issued a director’s order to halt “all ongoing activities” related to the project, which Ørsted said was 80 percent to completion.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Judge rules against Trump administration, allows Revolution Wind to resume

September 23, 2025 — A federal judge on Monday ordered that Orsted’s Revolution Wind may resume construction, affirming the company’s arguments that the Trump administration’s halting of the project is unlawful.

The ruling is a major win for the offshore wind industry, which to date has not seen much relief from the courts in addressing the obstacles that the Trump administration has put in place through executive and secretarial orders.

The preliminary injunction, as the name suggests, is a preliminary decision that halts the stop-work order while the case plays out. Still, such an injunction must meet four conditions, including that the plaintiff (Orsted) is likely to succeed on the merits of their argument and suffer irreparable harm without relief, and that an injunction would be in the public interest.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

Ørsted and Iberdrola Are Trying to Save U.S. Offshore Wind Investments

September 9, 2025 — Two major offshore wind developers,  Ørsted and Iberdrola, have efforts underway to save their offshore wind projects in the United States. The companies are reportedly trying to win over the Trump administration, which opposes offshore wind energy, by emphasizing the larger investments in the United States.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Bloomberg reports, confirmed that the administration is “actively engaged in discussions” with Ørsted over the future of the Revolution Wind project off the coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut. According to the reports, Wright, during a presentation at the Council of Foreign Relations, confirmed that there is “a very active dialogue,” saying the issues of the wind farm were being “worked and discussed.”

Last month, the Trump administration issued a stop work order for the project, which Ørsted said is 80 percent installed. The company highlighted its large investment, saying that all of the foundations for the 704 MW wind farm are installed and that 45 out of the 65 wind turbines have also been installed. The export cabling and the onshore power substation are nearly complete.

Ørsted filed a lawsuit challenging the legal authority to suspend the project, calling it a necessary step. The company, however, also said it was continuing to seek a resolution with the administration.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

How many lawsuits does it take to restart Revolution Wind? More than one.

September 8, 2025 — Hours before a federal judge in Boston was set to hear arguments on the Trump administration’s executive order stopping offshore wind reviews, two separate lawsuits seeking to reverse the recent stop work order on nearly completed Revolution Wind project were announced Thursday.

Revolution Wind, a joint venture between Ørsted and a consortium led by Skyborn Renewables, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. challenging the stop work order issued Aug. 22 by the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). The multibillion dollar project was 80% complete and scheduled to begin delivering 704 megawatts of power to 350,000 homes across Rhode Island and Connecticut starting in mid-2026.

Meaghan Wims, an Ørsted spokeswoman, said the company will continue to seek to work collaboratively with the Trump administration and other stakeholders but believed the federal government lacked legal authority for the stop work order. All required federal and state permits for the 65-turbine wind farm in Rhode Island Sound were secured in 2023 after a review process that lasted seven years.

“The project is facing substantial harm from continuation of the stop-work order, and as a result, litigation is a necessary step,” Wims said.

Soon after Ørsted and Skyborn Renewables filed their lawsuit, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha informed reporters of his intention to file a lawsuit with his Connecticut counterpart seeking to reverse the Trump administration’s decision. The lawsuit was filed Thursday afternoon in the U.S. District of Rhode Island in Providence.

“We have begun and built an industry here in Rhode Island that can continue to grow and provide jobs to Rhode Islanders and build our economy,” Attorney General Peter Neronha told reporters at a morning press conference in his Providence office. “We’re on the cusp of building that economy, and the president stopped it unlawfully.”

Read the full article at Rhode Island Current

States and developer sue the Trump administration for halting work on New England offshore wind farm

September 5, 2025 — Connecticut, Rhode Island and the developer of an offshore wind farm that would power 350,000 homes in the two states said Thursday that they’re suing the Trump administration for stopping the nearly completed project.

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha accused President Donald Trump of waging an “all-out assault” on the wind energy industry. The states’ lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island, describes the Revolution Wind project as a “cornerstone” of their clean energy future, abruptly halted by federal officials without “statutory authority, regulatory justification or factual basis.”

Danish energy company Orsted filed a separate suit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., also arguing that the administration lacks the legal authority to block the Revolution Wind project. Orsted said it would seek a preliminary injunction that would allow it to move forward with the project, which is 80% complete, with all underwater foundations and 45 of 65 turbines installed.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

Orsted’s Revolution Wind sues Trump administration over project halt

September 5, 2025 — Danish offshore wind developer Orsted (ORSTED.CO), and the states of Rhode Island and Connecticut sued the Trump administration on Thursday, alleging its decision to block construction of the nearly finished Revolution Wind project is illegal.

The separate complaints are the latest twist in a saga that started last month when U.S. officials issued a stop-work order to Revolution Wind, citing unspecified national security concerns. The order forced the suspension of a project that was 80% complete with all offshore foundations in place and 45 out of 65 wind turbines installed.

“The stop-work order was issued without statutory authority, lacks any evidentiary basis, and is unlawful,” Revolution Wind said in its complaint against U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and five other federal defendants. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized wind energy as ugly, unreliable, and expensive, and his administration is leaning on multiple federal agencies to rein in wind development.

Critics say Trump’s stance on offshore wind is at odds with his goal to boost energy supplies to power the nation’s ambitions around artificial intelligence, which requires a huge amount of data processing.

Read the full article at Reuters

Orsted Sues Trump Administration in Fight to Restart Its Blocked Wind Farm

September 5, 2025 — Orsted, the Danish renewable energy giant, sued the Trump administration on Thursday, saying the government’s move to halt a nearly finished wind farm off Rhode Island was unlawful and “issued in bad faith.”

The administration last month took the remarkable step of ordering work to stop on Revolution Wind, a $6.2 billion offshore wind farm that was nearly 80 percent complete, as part of a campaign to block wind projects. In a letter to Orsted, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management alluded to national security concerns with the project but did not elaborate.

On Thursday, Revolution Wind LLC, a joint venture between Orsted and Skyborn Renewables, asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to prevent the administration from enforcing the stop-work order. The complaint alleges that the order was arbitrary and capricious in part because it appeared to be carried out under political pressure from the White House.

The attorneys general of Connecticut and Rhode Island also said that they would file a separate lawsuit Thursday in the United States District Court for Rhode Island to overturn the stop-work order.

Read the full article at The New York Times

Trump halts work on New England offshore wind project that’s nearly complete

August 25, 2025 — The Trump administration halted construction on a nearly complete offshore wind project near Rhode Island as the White House continues to attack the battered U.S. offshore wind industry that scientists say is crucial to the urgent fight against climate change.

Danish wind farm developer Orsted says the Revolution Wind project is about 80% complete, with 45 out of its 65 turbines already installed.

Despite that progress — and the fact that the project had cleared years of federal and state reviews — the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued the order Friday, saying the federal government needs to review the project and “address concerns related to the protection of national security interests of the United States.”

It did not specify what the national security concerns are.

President Donald Trump has made sweeping strides to prioritize fossil fuels and hinder renewable energy projects. Trump recently called wind and solar power “THE SCAM OF THE CENTURY!” in a social media post and vowed not to approve wind or “farmer destroying Solar” projects. “The days of stupidity are over in the USA!!!” he wrote on his Truth Social site this week.

Read the full article at the Associated Press