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Five offshore wind projects regained a construction path in 2026 after federal suspensions
January and February court decisions allowed work to resume on five East Coast wind projects. The cases protected construction already underway while leaving underlying legal disputes and project delivery risks separate.
Five major East Coast offshore wind projects obtained court relief allowing construction activities to resume during January and February 2026. The decisions changed the immediate prospects for work already underway after the federal government had suspended their leases just before the year began.
The trigger was the Interior Department's December 22, 2025 announcement. It paused the leases for Vineyard Wind 1, Revolution Wind, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind 1, citing national-security risks identified in classified reports. Interior said the pause would allow review of potential mitigation with other agencies and leaseholders.
The important 2026 development was not a fresh promise to build those projects. Courts allowed developers to return to work on projects with equipment installed, contracts committed and construction teams already involved.
The decisions came project by project
| Date in 2026 | Project | Announced result |
|---|---|---|
| January 12 | Revolution Wind | Preliminary injunction allowing work to proceed |
| January 15 | Empire Wind | Preliminary injunction allowing offshore construction to resume |
| January 16 | Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind | Preliminary injunction allowing construction to resume |
| January 27 | Vineyard Wind | Decision staying the suspension order and allowing activities to resume |
| February 2 | Sunrise Wind | Preliminary injunction allowing impacted activities to restart |
The Rhode Island attorney general confirmed Revolution Wind's January decision. Empire, Dominion and Vineyard Wind announced their respective construction-resumption decisions. Ørsted's February 2 investor release confirmed the Sunrise order.
The developers described relief while underlying lawsuits proceeded. That is narrower than a final judgment resolving every disputed issue or an assurance that no further schedule risk remained.
The work exposed to interruption was already substantial
Sunrise Wind provides a concrete picture of what was at stake. In its January 7 disclosure, Ørsted said the project was nearly 45% complete, with 44 of 84 monopile foundations and the offshore converter station installed. It described the onshore electrical infrastructure as substantially complete and the near-shore export cables as installed.
The company said it had spent and committed billions of dollars. It also reported that more than 1,000 union workers had contributed over one million union work hours. Those were cumulative company-reported figures for existing work, not a count of jobs newly created by the February injunction or currently open electrician positions.
The distinction matters across the five projects. A suspension interrupts a sequence of marine installation, cable work, onshore connections and commissioning. An order permitting a restart allows that sequence to resume; it does not create a new project from scratch or itself finish the electrical system.
Resumption and first power remained separate milestones
Revolution Wind later supplied evidence of delivery beyond the courtroom. In a March announcement, the developer said the 704 MW project had begun delivering electricity to New England's grid.
That release distinguished first power from full commercial operations. It also identified fixed-price, 20-year power agreements with utilities in Rhode Island and Connecticut. A construction restart, a first energized turbine and operation of the entire contracted project are different stages, with different implications for remaining field work.
For electrical construction employers and workers, the year's court decisions preserved the ability to perform committed work on these identified projects. The announcements did not quantify how many workers returned, establish that every construction position continued uninterrupted, or guarantee the timing of remaining installation and testing.
