In a significant legal victory for the renewable energy industry, a federal judge has cleared the Danish offshore wind developer Ørsted to resume work on its nearly completed Revolution Wind project in Rhode Island. The project was one of several offshore wind initiatives that the Trump administration had halted in December 2025, citing national security concerns.
The ruling by US District Judge Royce Lamberth is a setback for former President Trump, who had sought to block the expansion of offshore wind in federal waters. Lamberth rejected the administration’s argument that national security concerns justified halting the project, stating that the pause would cause irreparable harm to the developer.
“You want to stop everything in place, costing them one and a half million a day, while you decide what you want to do?” Lamberth, who was appointed by Ronald Reagan, asked the Justice Department attorney during the hearing.
The Revolution Wind project, a 50-50 joint venture between Ørsted and Global Infrastructure Partners’ Skyborn Renewables, is about 87% complete and is expected to begin generating power this year. The project’s attorney, Janice Schneider, argued that the government’s pause had violated federal laws governing administrative procedure and due process, as the developer had not been able to review the classified assessment on offshore wind.
“This court should be very skeptical of the government’s true motives here,” Schneider said.
The ruling is a significant victory for the offshore wind industry, which has faced repeated disruptions to multibillion-dollar projects under the Trump administration. Trump, who has said he finds wind turbines “ugly, expensive and inefficient,” had sought to block the expansion of offshore wind in federal waters.
Ørsted has also sued on behalf of its Sunrise Wind project off the coast of New York, and this week’s preliminary injunction hearings will also address Equinor’s Empire Wind project off the coast of New York and Dominion’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind facility.
The renewable energy industry is hopeful that this ruling will pave the way for the continued growth of offshore wind in the United States, providing clean energy and creating thousands of jobs in the process.
