US federal court ruling allows Revolution Wind to resume construction
The US District Court for the District of Columbia has granted a preliminary injunction that will allow the Revolution Wind project to resume construction.
The preliminary injunction was in response to the Dec. 22, 2025, suspension order issued by the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).
As reported by the Providence Journal, Judge Royce C. Lamberth in the US District Court for the District of Columbia granted the project developers' request for a preliminary injunction at a Jan. 12 hearing, casting doubt on the federal government's stated concerns about national security and ruling from the bench that the order on Dec. 22 halting work on the $5-billion-plus wind farm as it neared completion appeared "unreasonable and seemingly unjustified."
Last year, the Trump Administration had first issued a stop work order on Aug. 22, 2025. Days later, Connecticut and Rhode Island sued. Developer Ørsted sued separately. The federal district court in the Ørsted challenge issued an injunction, allowing work on Revolution Wind to proceed.
Then, on Dec. 22, the BOEM once again suspended work on Revolution Wind for at least 90 days, citing national security concerns. Ørsted sought a preliminary injunction to block this latest stop work order. Connecticut and Rhode Island filed their own request, outlining the immediate harm facing their states and residents.
The US District Court’s recent action will allow the Revolution Wind project to restart impacted activities immediately while the underlying lawsuit challenging the Aug. 22, 2025, and Dec. 22, 2025, BOEM Director’s orders progresses.
Revolution Wind is a 50:50 joint venture between Global Infrastructure Partners, Skyborn Renewables and Ørsted. Ørsted made a final investment decision on the Revolution Wind project in late 2023.
"The project will resume construction work as soon as possible, with safety as the top priority, and to deliver affordable, reliable power to the Northeast," Ørsted reported Jan. 12.
The project is designed to provide 704 megawatts of electricity to power markets in Rhode Island and Connecticut. It calls for up to 65 wind turbines to be installed roughly 15 miles south of the Rhode Island coast and 32 miles southeast of the Connecticut coast. It is expected to be placed in service this year.
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Bruce Beaubouef
Managing Editor
Bruce Beaubouef is Managing Editor for Offshore magazine. In that capacity, he plans and oversees content for the magazine; writes features on technologies and trends for the magazine; writes news updates for the website; creates and moderates topical webinars; and creates videos that focus on offshore oil and gas and renewable energies. Beaubouef has been in the oil and gas trade media for 25 years, starting out as Editor of Hart’s Pipeline Digest in 1998. From there, he went on to serve as Associate Editor for Pipe Line and Gas Industry for Gulf Publishing for four years before rejoining Hart Publications as Editor of PipeLine and Gas Technology in 2003. He joined Offshore magazine as Managing Editor in 2010, at that time owned by PennWell Corp. Beaubouef earned his Ph.D. at the University of Houston in 1997, and his dissertation was published in book form by Texas A&M University Press in September 2007 as The Strategic Petroleum Reserve: U.S. Energy Security and Oil Politics, 1975-2005.