A US federal court has given Virginia utility Dominion Energy permission to resume construction on a massive offshore wind farm off the state's coast, putting on hold an order from President Donald Trump's administration.
US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia judge Jamar Walker on Friday granted Dominion's request for an injunction that temporarily prevents the US Department of Interior from blocking work on the utility's 2,587MW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project. The stay allows Dominion to resume construction while its broader challenge to the legality of the order progresses.
"Our team will now focus on safely restarting work to ensure CVOW begins delivery of critical energy in just weeks," Dominion said. "While our legal challenge proceeds, we will continue seeking a durable resolution of this matter through cooperation with the federal government."
Dominion sued the US last month, shortly after Interior directed developers behind five offshore wind projects along the US east coast to stop construction while it reviews national security threats identified in "recently completed classified reports" by the US Department of Defense. Neither Interior nor the Pentagon elaborated on their concerns beyond alluding to the potential of the projects to interfere with radar. The utility asked the court to vacate that order on the grounds that it violates laws including the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946, which governs the federal rulemaking process.
Dominion is the third developer to win an injunction against the federal order this week. The US District Court for the District of Columbia sided with Danish developer Orsted and its 704MW Revolution Wind system on 12 January, and with Norway's Equinor and its 810MW Empire Wind project on Thursday.
CVOW has been on track to deliver first power to the grid during the first quarter of 2026, with full operations following by the end of the year, Dominion said in its in November.
The cost of a broken CVOW
CVOW is the largest offshore wind farm under development in the US and expected to provide a considerable supply of renewable energy certificates (RECs) toward Dominion's renewable portfolio standard (RPS) requirements in Virginia.
The utility must use resources like solar and wind for 100pc of its non-nuclear load by 2045, with at least 75pc of the RECs retired for compliance originating from projects within Virginia's borders. Dominion, in its 2025 RPS report, anticipated that offshore wind generation — tacitly CVOW in the near term — would provide it with about 5.7mn RECs in 2026 and average nearly 9.6mn credits from 2027-2033.
Delays or the outright loss of that generation would have strong repercussions in Virginia's REC market. Offshore wind RECs accounted for almost 33pc of Dominion's anticipated compliance supply for 2026 and more than 50pc in 2027. That share would then decline, reaching 25pc in 2033, as the utility adds more onshore renewables to its fleet.
Postponing or losing CVOW would also have other consequences. The project has long garnered bipartisan support among state lawmakers as an economic driver, and its proximity to coastal load centers gives it properties that are difficult to replicate with renewables ashore, according to David Shepheard, a partner at consultant Baringa who specializes in energy and resources. Due to its location, those qualities include voltage support, particularly in coastal urban areas, ensuring that electricity flows reliably through the system. The PJM Interconnection, which manages the mid-Atlantic grid, has usually counted on thermal generation in those areas to accomplish the same end.
"Historically, PJM has had to keep a lot of urban power generation on line for far longer than they might have liked to," Shepheard said. But Dominion's project is in the "perfect location for it to provide more support so that you don't need those close, urban power generation resources as much or for as long."
The administration of President Donald Trump has already signaled that it may not be done with the matter, regardless of the string of injunctions. The government, through filings in the cases involving Revolution Wind, Empire Wind and CVOW, has suggested it could attempt to halt operations at those projects until the national security concerns have been assessed, even if construction resumes.
