US pauses leases for five offshore wind projects over radar concerns

Dec 22 (Reuters) – The Trump administration on Monday said it suspended leases for five large-scale offshore wind projects that are being built off the U.S. East Coast over concerns they would interfere with military radar systems.

The suspension marks the latest blow for offshore wind projects that have faced repeated disruptions under U.S. President Donald Trump, who has said he finds them ugly, costly and inefficient.

Shares in Danish energy firm Orsted, which owns two of the projects affected, traded down more than 11% at 1415 GMT.

“The prime duty of the United States government is to protect the American people,” said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum in a press release.

The department said the project leases were being suspended after the Pentagon raised concerns that the movement of huge turbine blades and the highly reflective towers cause radar interference. The resulting “clutter” obscures legitimate moving targets and generates false targets in the vicinity of the wind projects, it said.

The pause will give relevant federal agencies “time to work with leaseholders and state partners to assess the possibility of mitigating the national security risks posed by these projects,” the department said in the release.

The pause will affect Orsted’s Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind projects, Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners’ Vineyard Wind 1 project, Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind–Commercial, and Equinor’s Empire Wind 1 project, according to the release.

Orsted, Equinor and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners were not immediately available for comment.

In August, the administration had ordered Orsted to halt already advanced construction on the Revolution Wind project off the Rhode Island coast, though a federal judge later lifted the ban. Earlier this year, the administration lifted a stop-work order on Equinor’s Empire Wind in a compromise with New York state.

Trump had campaigned on a promise to end the offshore wind industry saying it is too expensive and hurts whales and birds, while promoting oil and gas.

The uncertainty has taken a financial toll on developers. Orsted raised $9.4 billion earlier this year to help fund U.S. projects after potential partners were deterred by Trump’s hostility to wind power.

(Reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto and Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Toby Chopra)