Dominion wind farm among 5 projects paused by Trump

The Trump administration on Monday said it suspended leases for five large-scale offshore wind projects that are being built off the East Coast over concerns they would interfere with military radar systems.

According to the Department of the Interior, Dominion Energy’s $10.9 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project off the coast of Virginia Beach is among the five projects.

Dominion said in a statement that the suspension is for 90 days.

“The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is essential for American national security and meeting Virginia’s dramatically growing energy needs, the fastest growth in America,” the Richmond-based Fortune 500 utility said Monday. “This growth is driven by the need to provide reliable power to many of America’s most important war fighting installations, the world’s largest warship manufacturer, and the largest concentration of data centers on the planet as well as the leading edge of the AI revolution. 

“Stopping CVOW for any length of time will threaten grid reliability for some of the nation’s most important war fighting, AI and civilian assets. It will also lead to energy inflation and threaten thousands of jobs.” 

Dominion also noted that the project has bipartisan support in Virginia, including outgoing Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

Earlier this year, Dominion said that the wind farm was expected to be in operation in late 2026. The 2.6-gigawatt project is expected to power 660,000 homes, and onshore and offshore cables were set to be installed in early 2026, the Fortune 500 utility said in August. Its cost has risen from the original $9.8 billion to about $10.9 billion, in part because of tariffs enacted under President Donald Trump, Dominion said in May.

Dominion’s stock fell from $58.35 per share at opening to $56.08 at 10 a.m., but had recovered to $56.88 by 10:44 a.m. Monday.

The CVOW project, which was approved under President Joe Biden’s administration, had so far evaded a pause under Trump, who ordered a halt to construction in August to the 80% complete $4 billion offshore wind project Revolution Power off the coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut. The Trump administration previously stopped work on Empire Wind, off New York.

“The project has been more than 10 years in the works, involved close coordination with the military, and is located 27 to 44 miles offshore, so far offshore it does not raise visual impact concerns,” Dominion added in its statement Monday. “The project’s two pilot turbines have been operating for five years without causing any impacts to national security. CVOW enjoys bipartisan support and is within months of generating a massive 2,600 megawatts to support the fastest growing part of America’s energy grid. This growth serves the largest concentration of critical infrastructure in the world.”

Revolution Wind, CVOW, Vineyard Wind 1 off Massachusetts and Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind off New York are impacted by Monday’s announcement.

The suspension marks the latest blow for offshore wind projects that have faced repeated disruptions under Trump, who has said he finds them ugly, costly and inefficient.

Shares in Danish energy firm Orsted, which owns two of the projects affected, traded down more than 11% at 2:15 p.m. GMT.

“The prime duty of the United States government is to protect the American people,” Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said in a press release.

The department said the project leases were being suspended after the Pentagon raised concerns that the movement of huge turbine blades and the highly reflective towers cause radar interference. The resulting “clutter” obscures legitimate moving targets and generates false targets in the vicinity of the wind projects, it said.

The pause will give relevant federal agencies “time to work with leaseholders and state partners to assess the possibility of mitigating the national security risks posed by these projects,” the department said in the release.

Orsted, Equinor and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners were not immediately available for comment.

In August, the administration had ordered Orsted to halt already advanced construction on the Revolution Wind project off the Rhode Island coast, though a federal judge later lifted the ban. Earlier this year, the administration lifted a stop-work order on Equinor’s Empire Wind in a compromise with New York state.

Trump had campaigned on a promise to end the offshore wind industry saying it is too expensive and hurts whales and birds, while promoting oil and gas.

The uncertainty has taken a financial toll on developers. Orsted raised $9.4 billion earlier this year to help fund U.S. projects after potential partners were deterred by Trump’s hostility to wind power.

(Reporting for Reuters by Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto and Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Toby Chopra)