2 LI wind projects press ahead despite resistance from Trump

Two wind farms under development off the coast of Long Island have continued construction despite onslaughts from the federal government, and their developers said this week that both still plan to become fully operational by 2027.

Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind have completed nearly all onshore work, pile-driven offshore monopiles and foundations, and have started or are preparing for the final phase of installing tall towers, turbines and blades, according to company representatives.

The Trump administration took aim at wind-energy arrays from the day he returned to office in 2025, issuing an executive order halting all new permitting for offshore wind. The administration also issued stop-work orders that were later reversed and more recently has paid billions for offshore lease areas previously secured for wind-energy arrays. 

President Donald Trump's claims that wind farms are a national security threat, harm whales and other wildlife, and are economically unfeasible have been widely debunked by critics, but the impact has been widespread and devastating, halting new projects and sowing vast uncertainty into a nascent market. 

But Long Island projects already under development have pressed on. Sunrise Wind, the 924-megawatt project by Denmark-based Orsted, is scheduled to send all its power to the Long Island grid from a connection at Smith Point and onward to a LIPA Holbrook substation.

Thus far, according to spokeswoman Meaghan Wims, Orsted has installed all 77 offshore foundations and begun installing power-producing turbines — to date 20 turbines and cables linking them to an offshore substation are complete.

An offshore converter station, which prepares that power for transmission over more than 100 miles of undersea cables, has been energized, Wims said, and the onshore converter station at Holbrook and export cables are finished.

Turbines could be commissioned and begin sending some power to the grid later this year, Wims said, though full commercial operation isn’t expected to happen until the latter half of 2027.

Accounting charges

Last month, Orsted’s Denmark parent reported it was continuing to take impairment charges tied to its U.S. operations, with some $249.1 million tied to Sunrise Wind alone, according to a financial filing. Impairment charges reflect expenses that can lower the accounting value of a company asset.

In 2024 Orsted took a $669.3 million charge related to increased costs tied to Sunrise Wind, according to a filing.

The company blamed the charge on increases in U.S. interest rates, and discussed continuing uncertainties in the U.S. market, led by tariffs and the company’s hope of receiving a bonus tax incentive for the project beyond the standard 30% investment tax credit. Newsday, citing court documents filed in the aftermath of Trump stop-work orders for Sunrise, listed the cost of the Sunrise project at $7 billion.

"Changes in the U.S. regulatory environment can materially and further adversely affect the value of our U.S. activities and could potentially lead us to cease development, which would result in further impairments and costs," Orsted noted in its financial statement.

Wims declined to discuss the potential tax credits Orsted expects or to answer questions about Sunrise's rate impact on Long Island customer bills. 

For years New York State and the developers declined to release the all-in construction costs for the two New York wind farms, but those costs — a combined $13 billion — were disclosed in federal court filings earlier this year, Newsday reported.

Empire Wind

At Empire Wind, being developed by Norway-based Equinor, the developers have completed all 54 foundations and await the arrival of construction vessels and barges to begin installing towers and turbines, company spokesman David Schoetz said in an email.

The $6 billion Empire Wind project, which will send all its 810 megawatts to the New York City grid at South Brooklyn, is 75% complete, he said, with all 54 monopiles and all inter-array and export cables installed.

An offshore substation is also nearing completion and commissioning, Schoetz said, and with the onshore substation expected to be energized by the fall, the project will establish a power connection between Brooklyn and the offshore array field.

But the final leg of work still awaits the completion of Jones Act-compliant barges and tugboats to finish the work. Those ships remain under construction in Mississippi and Louisiana, Schoetz said, even as turbines and related power components arrive at Empire’s staging area at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal. There is no final date for completion and arrival of those ships, he added, and the work to install towers, turbines and blades all awaits the completion of barges and related vessels under construction.

"Preparations for turbine installation are ongoing," he said, and the company plans to begin installing towers, turbines, and blades later this year.

"We continue to expect commercial operations in 2027," he wrote.

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.