Five months after an offshore wind project near New York got out of hot water with the Trump administration, Empire Wind 1 is facing a construction setback that could delay its planned completion.
A contract dispute over the turbine installation vessel being built for the project has again landed the project in uncertain territory.
Maersk Offshore Wind terminated its contract for the ship with Seatrium, a Singaporean shipbuilding and engineering company, on Oct. 9. Seatrium received a $475 million contract to build the vessel in March 2022, and the wind turbine installation vessel is now 98.9 percent complete, Seatrium said in a notice to shareholders.
It remains to be seen if Empire Wind 1 will be able to deliver its first power in late 2026 and be fully operational by the end of 2027, as expected. In April, the Trump administration ordered a halt on construction of Empire Wind 1, one of several salvos against the offshore wind industry. The stop-work order was lifted in May after negotiations with New York state leaders.
