According to Fox News, the US Department of the Interior has announced that leases for five major offshore wind farms are being put on hold immediately.
This applies, among others, to the Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind farms, which the Danish Ørsted is building off the east coast of the US.
The lease for Empire Wind, which is being built by the Norwegian Equinor, is also being put on hold. The Danish Vestas will supply wind turbines to Empire Wind.
The Ørsted share price fell by more than 10 percent shortly after the announcement. Vestas fell by about 4 percent at 3 p.m.
US Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum, writes on X that the leases for the five offshore wind farms are being put on hold due to national security.
- Due to national security concerns identified by the Department of War (formerly the US Department of Defense, ed.), the Department of the Interior is putting leases for five expensive, unreliable, heavily subsidized offshore wind farms on hold, he writes.
In a press release, the Department of the Interior writes, according to Fox News, that the security risks are apparent from "recently completed classified reports."
According to the news agency Reuters, the ministry says that the Pentagon has expressed concern that the movement of the wind turbine blades and reflective towers cause radar interference.
The Trump administration has previously tried to stop several offshore wind projects in the United States.
This applies, among others, to Ørsted's Revolution Wind, located off the coast of Rhode Island.
In August, Ørsted and partner Skyborn Renewables were ordered to stop construction of Revolution Wind, which was about 80 percent complete at the time.
The order was also justified by concerns about national security.
Ørsted and Skyborn Renewables then filed a lawsuit against the US government, and in September a judge allowed construction to continue.
/ritzau/
Text, graphics, images, sound, and other content on this website are protected under copyright law. DK Medier reserves all rights to the content, including the right to exploit the content for the purpose of text and data mining, cf. Section 11b of the Copyright Act and Article 4 of the DSM Directive.
Customers with IP agreements/major customer agreements may only share Danish Offshore Industry articles internally for the purpose of handling specific cases. Sharing in connection with specific cases refers to journaling, archiving, or similar uses.
Customers with a personal subscription/login may not share Danish Offshore Industry articles with individuals who do not themselves have a personal subscription to Danish Offshore Industry.
Any deviation from the above requires written consent from DK Medier.
