June 12, 2025 — SouthCoast Wind is now delayed by at least two years as a result of President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 memo freezing wind project permitting and leasing, according to attorneys general suing the Trump administration. This pushes power delivery to Massachusetts and Rhode Island to 2032 at the earliest.
Michael Brown, CEO of SouthCoast Wind, portends significant challenges for the up to 141-turbine project if the presidential memorandum persists, and warned it’s unlikely the developer will reach a power purchase agreement with the Commonwealth by the June 30 deadline, according to briefs filed this week in federal court as part of the multistate lawsuit.
“The continuation of the Wind Directive is an impediment to SouthCoast Wind” executing its agreement with the state, wrote Elizabeth Mahony, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, in a Tuesday filing.
Brown in a separate filing wrote that without resolution, “it may be impossible for the parties to execute the [power purchase agreements],” and the company will be “forced to abandon” negotiations with Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Mahony said the wind memo, if left in place, will be “an insurmountable challenge to project viability.”
Avangrid’s New England Wind is the other project negotiating contracts in this round of offshore wind solicitations. The parties had a March deadline, but it was extended, in part due to Trump’s memo.
Unlike SouthCoast Wind, New England Wind has all requisite federal permits in place to begin construction. Avangrid on Wednesday declined to comment on the status of negotiations with Massachusetts. A spokesperson for SouthCoast Wind did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
SouthCoast Wind received final federal approval on the last business day of the Biden administration. But it still needs three permits — one from the Environmental Protection Agency, one from NOAA Fisheries, and one from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (which the Corps has already approved, but not issued) — before it can begin construction.
Brown, in his filing, said the federal agencies, which were set to issue their final permit decisions in March, have repeatedly delayed action, citing the wind memorandum.
He said the EPA has been “unresponsive” to the company’s “multiple outreach efforts to check on the status of the final permit and provide assistance,” and that this “substantial, continuous delay” causes “significant harm” to the project.
Due to these delays, SouthCoast Wind has paid tens of millions of dollars in contract termination fees, Brown said.