Sunrise Wind, a subsidiary of Ørsted, is set to file a complaint in the US District Court for the District of Columbia challenging a recently issued lease suspension order from the US Department of the Interior’s (DoI) Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).
The company, which is constructing the 924MW Sunrise Wind project off the coast of New York State, plans to request a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the order. It claims the order would cause significant harm to its ongoing offshore wind project.
Sunrise Wind maintains that it has obtained all necessary permits at local, state and federal levels. The permits followed an extended review process that included consultations with several government agencies such as the US Department of Defense, US Coast Guard, US Army Corps of Engineers and National Marine Fisheries Service.
The Sunrise Wind project is currently 45% complete, with 44 out of 84 monopile foundations installed and the offshore converter station finished.
Onshore electric infrastructure work is substantially finished and near-shore export cables are already in place.
At the time when BOEM issued its order, Sunrise Wind anticipated beginning power generation as early as October 2026. The offshore wind farm was expected to reach full operational status in 2027.
The offshore wind farm is underpinned by a 25-year contract to meet the electricity needs of around 600,000 homes in New York State.
Sunrise Wind stated that it has invested billions in the project and met conditions set during an extended regulatory review. This included entering into mitigation agreements with defence authorities following concerns over impacts on national security capabilities during construction and operation phases.
The company argues that continuing the lease suspension puts these investments and related jobs at risk.
According to Sunrise Wind, thousands of jobs across various sectors, including more than 1,000 union workers, have already contributed more than one million work hours to date.
Ørsted’s investment through Sunrise Wind extends to grid upgrades, port facilities and supply chains involving shipbuilding and manufacturing spanning more than 40 states.
Recently, Revolution Wind, a joint venture between Ørsted and Skyborn Renewables, filed similar legal motions in the same federal court regarding its 704MW project off the coast of Rhode Island.
Similarly, Equinor subsidiary Empire Offshore Wind had initiated legal proceedings contesting a DoI directive that ordered a suspension of activity at the Empire Wind project.
