The March 14 action against the 1.5-GW project off the Atlantic City coast being developed by energy giant Shell and French state-owned utility EDF comes six months after EPA approved the permit allowing it to proceed with construction.

Environmental appeals judge Mary Kay Lynch invalidated the permit and remanded it to the agency for review—citing the Jan. 20 administration executive order to halt wind project approvals on land or waters under federal jurisdiction for 60 days.

The board “has generally exercised its broad discretion to grant a permit issuer’s voluntary remand request where the permitting authority is reevaluating its permit decision,” Lynch’s order said. It came in response to a permit appeal by a New Jersey-based opponent, Save Long Beach Island, which claimed project environmental damage, and by an EPA request.

“Atlantic Shores is disappointed by EPA’s decision to pull back its fully executed permit, as regulatory certainty is critical to deploying major energy projects," a project spokesperson said. The project claims the agency did not provide “good cause” for the motion.

Atlantic Shores argued that EPA had “not identified any condition” in the final permit approved last September that it wants to substantively change or reconsider. It also argued that a voluntary remand “without good cause” has the effect of “circumventing the statutory timeframe” provided in the Clean Air Act and conflicts with the developer's lease terms. But the appeals board ruling said it treats requests for voluntary remand “liberally and is not limited to circumstances” where EPA provides “specific substantive changes to the final permit," claiming the permit was not final because administrative review actions had not been exhausted, according to a Bloomberg report.

The project consists of two wind farms planned for sites about 14 km offshore. The developers secured a state offtake agreement for the 1.5-GW first phase, but both backers reported recent project writedowns—with Shell reporting an estimated $1-billion loss and a pause in its project involvement in late January, and EDF later reporting a $941-million loss. The energy giant still retains its half ownership stake in the Atlantic Shore joint venture, which also includes three development leases for other New Jersey-New York regional ocean sites

'Uncertainty'

New Jersey in early February also cancelled its upcoming Round 4 offshore wind solicitation, for which Atlantic Shores was the only remaining bidder, citing Shell’s withdrawal and administration-caused “uncertainty.” The state Board of Public Utilities also is expected to soon consider delay requests from planned bidders Leading Light Wind and Attentive Energy.

State Gov. Phil Murphy (D), in the last year of his term, earlier set an ambitious goal to generate 11 GW of electricity from offshore wind energy by 2040 as part of the state Energy Master Plan to transition to 100% renewable energy by 2035. It has so far approved 5 GW of offshore wind capacity, and the same amount of solar capacity, according to state data.

installation of a nearly 4,000-ton substation, the first of three, was just completed at the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind site about 27 miles off Virginia Beach. The estimated $10 billion energy project, also including installation of 176 wind turbines, is on track to finish at the end of 2026, says developer Dominion Energy.
Image courtesy of DEME Offshore

The energy plan, issued in 2019, is being updated to consider state progress in meeting clean energy goals, with a revised version set for release by year end and a comment period through May 1. Offshore wind is still part of the new master plan, said Eric Miller, executive director of Murphy's climate action office, calling it “actionable and flexible” to help the state meet clean power goals.

Meanwhile a new state poll done ”in cooperation with” a fuel lobby group, shows voters voicing need for more power plants in New Jersey, but with no clear preference for nuclear or natural gas as options, said NJ Politico. Even so, continuing strong local opposition to the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission's plan for a $180-million gas power plant in Newark as emergency backup forced the agency to table final project approval, despite okays from Murphy last year and from the state environmental agency last month.

In New York, an application by developer BP for a 320-kilometer underwater transmission connection to its planned two-phase 2.5-GW Beacon Wind project was withdrawn last month, according to a public regulatory filing, citing more time need to reevaluate project design and configuration. Beacon's first phase and the state's 925-MW Sunrise Wind project off Montauk, Long Island. had been set to come on line in 2027.  The latter project, being developed by Orsted, has noted both schedule delays and higher costs, but work iscontinuing.

Massachusetts Projects Also Targeted

In Massachusetts, the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation and national trade group Responsible Offshore Development Alliance filed petitions this month asking the U.S. Supreme Court to void federal approvals for the 62-turbine, 800-MW Vineyard Wind project, the first domestic commercial-scale offshore wind project to gain such approvals in 2021 after deliberate delays during the first Trump term. 

But the high court earlier declined to hear a similar petition from a separate opponent group based in Nantucket, Mass.

Vineyard Wind is set to complete construction this year, delayed for several months in 2024 after a mandated work shutdown last summer due to a collapsed turbine blade that had a manufacturing flaw, which required turbine blades to be replaced. Construction restarted, but a federal ban on power generation from installed turbines remains in effect.

Meanwhile, the Nantucket group said on March 21 it is suing EPA to reopen clean air permit approvals for two other planned offshore wind projects in Massachusetts, New England Wind 1 and 2, which are set to generate 2.6 GW of wind power.  Neither the agency nor developers Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners would comment.

The swirling legal issues also prompted a schedule revise by another project, Southcoast Wind, which is planned to provide 2,4 GW of energy to Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and had received final Biden admnistration approval on Jan. 18 to start construction this year by its developer, a joint venture of Engie and EDP Renewables. But the firms told investors on Feb. 27 that the project, originally set to complete by 2030, would not start construction until 2029 despite financing and transmission connection in place and an "attractive" power purchase agreement. The developers also reported a $139-million impairment charge, but told analysts it won't intend to abandon the project, opting instead for a “prudent approach given recent executive orders and permit reviews.”

Despite the Trump anti-wind campaign. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) said at a press briefing: "We're going to continue to support the offshore industry here in Massachusetts." She noted that "It's really important for jobs ... for our economy ... for meeting our climate goals and ... for establishing regional independence when it comes to energy.”  

Staying on Track

 In Virginia, the U.S. Justice Dept. joined a federal court petition by two out-of-state conservative groups seeking a time extension in their suit challenging federal environmental approval of Dominion Energy’s 2.6-GW, 176-turbine Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project (CVOW), the largest U.S. project now under construction.

 The groups, which filed their challenge in March 2024 in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., were granted a stay in proceedings until March 24, 2025. They claim project harm to the endangered North Atlantic right whale, but numerous federal and other studies have cited ship collisions and other reasons for whale deaths in recent years.

Even so, Dominion Energy announced this month that DEME Offshore, a key CVOW contractor, lifted into place the project's first of three nearly 4,000-ton, 880-MW ton substations, which the utility company said marked a significant step in meeting its planned completion target. DEME’s installation vessel, Orion, executed the lift and now is installing transition pieces. The firm installed 78 monopile foundations between May and November 2024. Installation of more foundations and of 14-GW turbines by manufacturer Siemens Gamesa will continue this year.

The Port of Virginia and Skanska also completed the $233-million redevelopment of the Portsmouth Marine Terminal, including 72 acres and 1,500 feet of wharf space for offshore wind component staging and wind operations. Fabrication of wind turbine towers and blades is underway, with nacelle production set to begin soon, Dominion Energy said.

The firm announced last month that CVOW is about 50% complete and is set to be a major component of Virginia's power mix. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin has championed the project, noting the accelerated need for energy in light of major growth of data centers—factors that are set to prevent intervention by an administration voicing more rhetoric than fact on offshore wind. "Whoever wins this power race is going to unleash the economic opportunity that comes with it, and if it can't come to Virginia, it will go someplace else," Youngkin told attendees of the CERAWeek by S&P Global energy megaconference in Houston March 12.

"The combination of federal programs, clean energy tax credits and clean  energy investment will add $37 billion to the Commonwealth’s economy by  2035,” Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) told Congress.

Market participants and observers are watching how Trump threats play out for existing projects. "It's still early days to determine whether this marks the beginning of a broader ‘dis-permitting’ trend for approved offshore wind projects, John Murray, senior wind research analyst at S&P Global Commodity Insights, told told industry publication Recharge, with the market expert still observing the project review process and if EPA's permit withdrawal “is an isolated case or a signal of broader delays." 

But the publication report also noted, in a comment from Timothy Fox, managing director of consultant ClearView Energy: “You don't want to be the president who stopped a project that could have prevented a grid outage, or a grid disruption or higher rates.”