Sunrise Wind can proceed, ending Trump’s offshore wind ban — for now

In December, the Trump administration issued a sweeping stop-work order to every single offshore wind installation underway in America. But, as of today, all five projects have either resumed construction or received the green light from judges to do so.

A federal judge ruled Monday that the 924-megawatt Sunrise Wind project, located off the coast of New York, can resume construction. The wind farm is nearly halfway complete and, before the stop-work order, was expected to begin producing electricity this year.

Ørsted said in a statement that it will ​“restart impacted activities immediately.”

The December order from the Trump administration ground construction of the megaprojects to a halt, costing developers millions of dollars, delaying the arrival of much-needed new electricity, and threatening the outright cancellation of the multibillion-dollar developments.

It also capped off a yearlong assault from the Trump administration against the emerging sector.

That assault has largely been successful. Offshore wind was once seen as the future cornerstone of Northeastern grids, but now only a fraction of what was once planned for the next decade is likely to get built: Research firm BloombergNEF slashed its forecast for 2035 offshore wind capacity by a staggering 85% between November 2024 and October 2025.

It’s unclear where the administration will go from here. Several of the five now-unpaused projects will be complete, or at least begin producing power, if they can continue unabated for even a few more months.