Empire Wind Fiasco Forces Equinor to Rethink U.S. Offshore Wind Investment

By Nina Trentmann and Kari Lundgren (Bloomberg) — Equinor ASA expects its $5 billion wind project off New York — blocked then unblocked by the Trump administration — to proceed as planned, but said further investments in US offshore wind are likely off the table.

“In this project in particular, we feel very confident now that it will go forward undisturbed,” Chief Financial Officer Torgrim Reitan said in an interview. “But of course our appetite to continue to invest in further projects when it comes to offshore wind is lower.”

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum called a halt to work on the Empire Wind farm in April, saying it had been “rushed through” by the Biden administration. That decision was then reversed a month later — a stunning reprieve for a huge project where construction was already underway, but also a reminder of the unpredictability of the investment environment under President Donald Trump.

“What’s happened on Empire Wind, that creates a different layer of uncertainty around future investments,” Reitan said. “If anything, this will lead to companies demanding higher returns to invest in the US, given that there seems to be more uncertainty for the time being than there has been in the past.”

The hiatus following the government’s stop order was a tense time for the Norwegian company as it continued to rack up costs on the project while engaging in a flurry of meetings with White House officials.

“We were burning $50 million a week into something that was highly uncertain at that point,” the CFO said. “We were ready to stop the project — with all the consequences related to that — and we were very clear with the administration that it was only a matter of days before we had to push the big red button.”

A breakthrough finally came May 19, when the Trump administration reached a deal with New York Governor Kathy Hochul that would allow Empire Wind to proceed but also open the way for new gas pipelines to be built in the state. 

The 810-megawatt wind project, whose 54 turbines are designed to power 500,000 homes, is slated to begin commercial operation in 2027. Equinor has said it will give an update on the impact of the delay when it presents its second-quarter results on July 23.

© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.

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