Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind to restart work after Trump suspension lifted
Dominion Energy workers look at one of two wind turbines located 43 kilometers off Virginia Beach in the Atlantic Ocean on July 17, 2023. The two turbines are part of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Program pilot program.
Kendall Warner | Virginia Pilot | Tribune News Service | Getty Images
Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind will continue construction after a federal judge on Friday temporarily lifted the Trump administration’s decision to suspend the project.
It is the largest offshore wind project under construction in the United States. Domination Energyowner and developer, rose nearly 1% on the news.
The Interior Department in December halted construction of five wind farms off the East Coast, including Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, citing national security concerns.
Judge Jamar Walker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted Dominion’s request for a preliminary injunction on Friday. In its lawsuit, Dominion called Trump’s suspension “arbitrary and illegal.”
“Our team will now focus on safely restarting operation to ensure CVOW can begin delivering critical energy within weeks,” a Dominion spokesperson told CNBC on Friday. he said.
“As our legal fight continues, we will continue to seek a permanent solution to this issue in cooperation with the federal government,” the spokesman said.
Dominion said in December that “any shutdown of CVOW would threaten grid reliability for some of the nation’s most critical combat, AI and civilian assets.”
Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind It’s a 176-turbine project that will provide enough energy for more than 600,000 homes, according to Dominion. It is planned to start electricity distribution at the end of the first quarter of 2026.
The project will help meet energy demand in Northern Virginia, the world’s largest data center market. Data centers are increasingly straining the power grid as they consume more power to train and run AI applications.
The Trump administration tried to shut down four other offshore wind farms in December. These are Vineyard Wind 1 in Massachusetts; Wind of Revolution off Rhode Island; Sunrise Wind off Long Island and New England; and Empire Wind 1 south of Long Island.
Federal judges this week allowed Revolution Wind and Empire Wind to continue construction.
