Court rules in favour of Iberdrola against Trump's veto of its wind farm project
A Boston court has allowed the company formed by Iberdrola and Denmark's CIP to resume work on the Vineyard Wind offshore wind farm, which had been halted since 22 December
District Judge Brian E. Murphy of the Federal Court in Boston, Massachusetts, has ruled in favour of Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between Spanish energy company Iberdrola and Danish company Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), in its dispute with the Trump administration.
Projects halted
The dispute dates back to 22 December, when the US government, through the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), part of the Department of the Interior, issued an order to halt construction work on five offshore wind farms, including the Vineyard Wind project by Iberdrola's US subsidiary, Avangrid.
The order immediately suspended contracts for all large-scale wind projects under construction in the United States due to potential national security risks identified by the Department of War in a series of classified reports. This risk was related to the proximity of these projects to certain early warning and radar systems.
According to the US administration, the purpose of the suspension was ‘to allow time to work with lessees and state partners to assess the possibility of mitigating the national security risks posed by these projects’.
Vineyard Wind 1
In the case of Iberdrola, the project that was halted and has now been unblocked is Vineyard Wind 1, the first large offshore wind farm in the US by the company chaired by Ignacio Galán. Located off the coast of Massachusetts, its installed capacity is 806 MW, enough to supply the energy needs of 400,000 homes and businesses in the region.
Iberdrola's US subsidiary, Avangrid Power, has a 50% stake in the project, while the other 50% is held by the Danish company Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP).
The investment in the project amounts to 2.7 billion euros, guaranteed by contracts with the three main state-owned electricity companies.
At the time of the suspension, 95% of the Vineyard Wind 1 works had been completed and it had already been sending energy to the grid for a year. The project includes 62 turbines, of which 44 are already fully installed and others partially installed, and generates 70% of its planned capacity.
Precautionary measures
The ruling by Judge Brian E. Murphy, who was appointed by former US President Joe Biden, establishes precautionary measures that will allow the companies to continue with the construction of the wind farm while the lawsuits filed by the energy companies to overturn the US government's order continue in the courts.
According to the judge's ruling, the interruption of the works could cause ‘irreparable damage’ to the Spanish-Danish consortium. Furthermore, he considers that the US government has not offered a reasonable explanation for the alleged risk to national security posed by the wind farms.
The ruling also describes as ‘arbitrary and capricious’ the decision by the Department of the Interior to prohibit further construction, but to allow the wind turbines already installed to continue producing electricity.
Resumption of work
This first legal victory for Iberdrola against the Trump administration and its offshore wind energy policy joins those of three other companies affected by the suspensions decreed on 22 December last year.
In total, the courts have provisionally authorised four of the five operations affected by the order to continue construction, pending a final ruling on the legality of the measure.
Vineyard Wind, the company managing the installation, has stated that it will continue to work with the US administration to achieve a quick and permanent solution, while proceeding with the installation of the last turbines and the final commissioning of the wind farm.
Iberdrola and the US
The US market is strategic for the company chaired by Ignacio Galán, as highlighted in last September's presentation of the strategic plan for 2028, which envisages investments of 16 billion euros in the country by that year.
Avangrid, Iberdrola's US subsidiary, has more than 105 GW of generation capacity installed in 24 states and serves more than six million homes and businesses in the United States.
The arrival of Donald Trump's administration has posed a threat to the future plans of companies with offshore wind projects such as Iberdrola, which has received threats of suspension of works and withdrawal of permits.
It should be remembered that in his speech on 21 January at the World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland), Trump himself claimed that wind farms ‘ruin the landscape’ and accused China of manufacturing and selling turbines ‘to the fools who buy them’, but avoiding installing them on its own territory.