The U.S. Interior Department on Friday halted the massive Revolution Wind project off the coast of Rhode Island, sending shares of Danish renewable energy company Orsted (ORSTED) plunging over 16% to a record low on Monday.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), which is part of the Interior Department, sent a letter on Friday to Revolution Wind LLC with a work-stoppage order, citing unspecified “concerns related to the protection of national security interests” of the U.S.
Revolution Wind is the subsidiary of Orsted that is overseeing the project in Rhode Island.
Orsted said in a statement responding to the work stoppage that the project was 80% complete, with all offshore foundations installed and 45 out of 65 wind turbines also already installed.
The project is expected to supply power to over 350,000 homes in both Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Orsted noted that its U.S. offshore wind projects have resulted in four million labor hours for American union workers to date, with two million of those coming from the Revolution Wind project.
“Orsted is investing into American energy generation, grid upgrades, port infrastructure, and a supply chain, including US shipbuilding and manufacturing extending to more than 40 states,” the company said in a statement. “Revolution Wind is already employing hundreds of local union workers supporting both on and offshore construction activities.”
The company said it “is evaluating all options to resolve the matter expeditiously,” including possibly taking legal action.
Other renewable energy projects could be threatened
The fact that the Trump administration has halted a massive project that was nearing completion will now raise concerns about the fate of other wind and solar projects that are not nearly as far along as the Revolution Wind project.
Trump posted a message on Truth Social last week in which he called wind and solar energy “the scam of the century,” and indicated that his administration would block any further projects.
“We will not approve wind or farmer destroying Solar,” Trump said. “The days of stupidity are over in the USA!!!”
However, halting this project in Rhode Island – and any others that it chooses to block – means that the Trump administration is costing American workers their jobs.
Sean McGarvey, president of the North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU), issued a statement on Monday blasting the White House over its decision.
“Let’s call the Department of the Interior’s stop-work order for Revolution Wind what it is: President Donald Trump just fired 1,000 of our members who had already labored to complete 80% of this major energy project,” he said. “A ‘stop-work order’ is the fancy bureaucratic term, but it means one thing: throwing skilled American workers off the job after they’ve spent a decade training, building, and delivering.”
McGarvey added that this “project isn’t some pipe dream; it’s real steel in the water and $1.3 billion in investment already on the ground.”
The Trump administration also halted a major New York offshore wind project by Norwegian energy giant Equinor in April that is expected to provide electricity for 500,000 homes.
Although the work stoppage was later lifted, it led Equinor to take an impairment of nearly $1 billion on the project, according to Barron’s.
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