The US District Court for the District of Columbia has granted a preliminary injunction sought by Equinor for its Empire Wind 1 offshore wind project, allowing construction to resume on the project, which was over 60% complete when the US government issued a stop-work order in December 2025 (Equinor press release, 15/01/2026).
- The decision follows the US administration’s late-December 2025 move to halt around 6 GW of offshore wind projects, including Equinor’s Empire Wind 1 as well as projects developed by Ørsted, Avangrid, and Dominion Energy (KEI, 31/12/2025).
- Equinor said in a statement: “Empire Wind will now focus on safely restarting construction activities that were halted during the suspension period.”
In a previous court filing, Equinor had warned that the tight schedule for offshore substation installation meant work needed to resume by 16 January, or the project would face a “likely” cancellation.
Empire Wind 1 is the second US offshore wind park to secure an injunction against the US administration this week, following Ørsted’s 704 MW Revolution Wind, which was granted an injunction a few days earlier.
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