Orsted project's billions at stake if 'bad faith' Trump order not lifted

Revolution Wind spelled out the billions of dollars at stake if the project is cancelled following a stop work order by the US government, as the Orsted and Skyborn Renewables venture accused the Trump Administration of “biased” and contradictory action against the sector.

The global wind industry was shocked when on 23 August the Trump Administration ordered the 80%-complete 704MW Revolution Wind to halt construction off Rhode Island, citing “national security concerns”.

The lawsuit filed in Washington, DC, adds that “in the immediate term [the order] is causing losses of millions of dollars per week to the project” and raises the prospect of further costs if it ends up breaching its 20-year power deals with the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Orsted and Skyborn want the court to order they should be allowed to complete Revolution, warning that even a short delay could imperil vessel contracts that could take a year or more to resurrect.

The suit names federal officials including interior secretary Doug Burgum as defendants and includes detailed criticism of the conduct of President Donald Trump and federal regulatory body BOEM towards the offshore wind sector.

“Since January 2025, Revolution Wind has continued to participate in regular meetings to update the regulators on the Project, including a meeting two days before the Stop Work Order was issued. Regulators did not raise the possibility of a Stop Work Order or concerns regarding national security or conflicts with other offshore uses,” claims the lawsuit.

“Although BOEM purports to have issued the Stop Work Order to address national security and prevention of interference with reasonable uses of the Outer Continental Shelf, shortly after its issuance, Interior told the press that the Stop Work Order was ‘in line with President Donald Trump’s energy goals…’

“It made no reference in that statement to the Stop Work Order’s stated national security and interference ‘concerns’ but rather told the press that ‘experimental and expensive wind projects... are proven failures and that Interior is putting an immediate stop to these costly failures’.”

According to the suit “secretary Burgum then endorsed this framing less than 45 minutes after it was first published” and went on to justify the national security aspect only with "loose references to radar and undersea drones".

The legal action suggests that the real basis for the action against Revolution is Donald Trump’s “biased” view of wind power.

“In the same week that the Stop Work Order was issued, the President continued to indicate that the Administration would take action against wind power regardless of its many benefits or past approvals – and with no reference to national security concerns,” says the legal challenge.

“As evidenced by numerous statements of the President, [Burgum], Interior spokespeople, and [Environmental Protection Agency] administrator Zeldin, the purported basis for the Stop Work Order is pretextual, and the Stop Work Order was issued in bad faith.”