A US court overturns Trump's decision and gives the green light to an Iberdrola offshore wind farm

BarcelonaA Massachusetts district court has granted the injunction requested by the Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind megaproject. The company is owned by Iberdrola – through its North American subsidiary Avangrid – and the Danish fund Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP). This injunction was granted in response to the suspension order issued last December by the Office of Marine Energy Management (BOEM) of the Department of the Interior under the Trump administration, according to sources at the company chaired by Ignacio Sánchez Galán. This court decision clears the way for the project and will allow construction, commissioning, and electricity production to resume immediately. Vineyard Wind has indicated that it will continue working with the U.S. administration "for a swift and permanent resolution of the proceedings." The Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind farm is now 95% complete and is already generating power for homes and industries in the New England region of the northwestern United States. It will continue generating power, and the remaining 5% of the farm will be built as soon as possible, "with safety remaining a key priority, so we can provide affordable and secure energy."

In mid-January, Vineyard Wind filed a request with a federal court in Massachusetts for an injunction against the Trump administration's work stoppage, which halted construction on five offshore wind farm concessions, including Vineyard Wind 1. By early 2024, it had been completing commissioning work and had most of its turbines already generating power for months, supplying nearly 400,000 homes in Massachusetts.

In addition to Vineyard Wind 1, the wind farms under construction affected by the decision were Revolution Wind, 704 megawatts (MW) by Orsted; Sunrise Wind, 924 MW; Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, 2,600 MW; and Empire Wind 1, 810 MW by Equinor.

However, the US courts had been overturning the Trump Administration's decision and granting injunctions like the one for Vineyard Wind in other cases, such as Orsted and Equinor.

Large offshore project

Vineyard Wind 1 is the first large-scale wind turbine installation offshore (offshore) Iberdrola's project in the United States. The project is 50% owned by the Iberdrola Group – through Avangrid Power, a subsidiary of Avangrid – and CIP, and its investment amounts to approximately $3 billion (more than €2.7 billion), guaranteed through contracts with the three main state-owned electric utilities.

Last September, the Trump Administration, as part of its crusade against this type of renewable energy, already targeted two of Iberdrola's offshore wind projects – New England Wind 1 and 2 – by withdrawing their construction permits, even though neither had yet started construction. Orders to suspend work and the withdrawal of permits, or the threat of doing so, have been issued for several wind farms. offshore since the arrival of the new US government a year ago.