Overview
- The Department of the Interior ordered an immediate suspension of lease contracts for all large offshore wind projects under construction, naming Vineyard Wind 1, Revolution Wind, CVOW–Commercial, Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind 1.
- The projects will remain non-operational while the government works with owners including Iberdrola and Ørsted to identify remedies.
- Interior said turbine motion and reflective towers generate radar clutter that can obscure legitimate targets or create false ones, consistent with a 2024 Department of Energy analysis on detection tradeoffs.
- Vineyard Wind 1 off Massachusetts was partially operating and about 75% built, with roughly €2.7 billion invested, according to company disclosures reported in Spanish media.
- The decision adds substantial financial and regulatory uncertainty for East Coast offshore wind and follows earlier federal actions against other Iberdrola projects in the region.