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Equinor has said it is considering its legal options after the US halted construction on the Norwegian energy group’s $2.5bn wind farm off the coast of New York this month, in an escalation of the Trump administration’s offensive against the offshore wind sector.
“We have invested in Empire Wind after obtaining all necessary approvals,” said Anders Opedal, chief executive of Equinor, at the company’s first-quarter results on Wednesday. “The order to halt work now is unprecedented and in our view unlawful.”
US interior secretary Doug Burgum ordered Equinor to “immediately halt all construction activities” on its 810-megawatt project on April 16, accusing the previous Biden administration of a rushed and insufficient analysis of the plans.
Equinor said it had received all state and federal permits for the project and that construction was about 30 per cent completed. The halt had put into question the “security of investments based on valid approvals”, it said, adding that it wanted the US to “clarify the matter” and was “considering our legal options”.
The company said the gross book value of assets relating to the Empire Wind project was about $2.5bn and that its exposure to the project, in terms of guarantees and termination fees to suppliers should work not go ahead, was between $1.5bn and $2bn before tax and any settlements. It said the $1.5bn it had borrowed for the project would be returned to lenders in the event of termination.
The lease on the wind farm was obtained by Equinor in 2017 and the project, which could supply power to about 500,000 homes in New York, was given the go-ahead last year.
The decision to pause the project was the most serious action so far in the Trump administration’s campaign against the offshore wind sector, which has prompted leading developers including Shell and TotalEnergies to reduce or slow their US plans.
President Donald Trump in January paused offshore wind leasing and permitting and ordered a review of already approved projects. Unlike other renewable energy projects, the US offshore wind sector relies on the federal government for permitting approvals.
New York state governor Kathy Hochul vowed at the time to “fight” the Trump administration’s decision. “I will not allow this federal over-reach to stand,” she said in a statement.
