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SouthCoast Wind is now delayed by at least two years as a result of President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 memo freezing wind project permitting and leasing, according to attorneys general suing the Trump administration. This pushes power delivery to Massachusetts and Rhode Island to 2032 at the earliest.
Michael Brown, CEO of SouthCoast Wind, portends significant challenges for the up to 141-turbine project if the presidential memorandum persists, and warned it’s unlikely the developer will reach a power purchase agreement with the Commonwealth by the June 30 deadline, according to briefs filed this week in federal court as part of the multistate lawsuit.
“The continuation of the Wind Directive is an impediment to SouthCoast Wind” executing its agreement with the state, wrote Elizabeth Mahony, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, in a Tuesday filing.
Brown in a separate filing wrote that without resolution, “it may be impossible for the parties to execute the [power purchase agreements],” and the company will be “forced to abandon” negotiations with Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Mahony said the wind memo, if left in place, will be “an insurmountable challenge to project viability.”
Avangrid’s New England Wind is the other project negotiating contracts in this round of offshore wind solicitations. The parties had a March deadline, but it was extended, in part due to Trump’s memo.
Unlike SouthCoast Wind, New England Wind has all requisite federal permits in place to begin construction. Avangrid on Wednesday declined to comment on the status of negotiations with Massachusetts. A spokesperson for SouthCoast Wind did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
SouthCoast Wind received final federal approval on the last business day of the Biden administration. But it still needs three permits — one from the Environmental Protection Agency, one from NOAA Fisheries, and one from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (which the Corps has already approved, but not issued) — before it can begin construction.
Brown, in his filing, said the federal agencies, which were set to issue their final permit decisions in March, have repeatedly delayed action, citing the wind memorandum.
He said the EPA has been “unresponsive” to the company’s “multiple outreach efforts to check on the status of the final permit and provide assistance,” and that this “substantial, continuous delay” causes “significant harm” to the project.
Due to these delays, SouthCoast Wind has paid tens of millions of dollars in contract termination fees, Brown said.
In 2018, the developer purchased a tract of the Atlantic Ocean Outer Continental shelf from the federal government for $135 million. Since then, it has made annual payments of $380,000 to $450,000 to the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
“SouthCoast Wind remains obligated to pay these amounts to the United States even though the Presidential Memorandum has stalled SouthCoast Wind’s ability to continue development on the Lease Area,” Brown wrote.
In late February, the project’s parent company, EDP Renewables, announced a $260 million reduction in value of its North American project portfolio, which includes SouthCoast Wind, and anticipated up to a four-year delay to the project as a result of the Trump administration’s adverse position on offshore wind.
(The company assumed a delay, for the purpose of apprising investors, but the states’ recent filing confirms there will be a delay of at least two years.)
SouthCoast Wind is slated to lease the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal, currently occupied by Vineyard Wind, for project buildout, as well as the Port of New Bedford for long-term operations and maintenance work.
The project is featuring prominently in the lawsuit filed last month in federal court by the commonwealth and 17 other attorneys general in states that already have offshore or land-based wind projects, or plan to develop them.
The first hearing took place last week, during which a federal judge raised legal issues with the states’ complaint. A motion hearing to determine whether the case should be dismissed was set to take place on June 11, but the parties rescheduled it to June 18.
Following the first hearing, the states filed briefs to address the judge’s criticisms, including his request for more information on the “specific harms to specific projects in specific states.”
The filings detail the current and anticipated harm, homing in on two projects: Atlantic Shores, a New Jersey project now looking at cancellation; and SouthCoast Wind.
The states are asking the court to immediately prevent the Trump administration from enforcing this Jan. 20 wind memorandum in order to allow permitting to resume.
Though the Trump administration defends the memorandum, it states that if a judge decides to issue an injunction, it should be narrowly tailored such that only certain projects would obtain relief.
“Assuming Plaintiffs had a viable claim for preliminary relief (they do not), an appropriately tailored remedy would be an order for Agency Defendants to process any applications” for only selected projects, reads a U.S. Department of Justice filing, which identifies six projects as potentially falling into a narrowed scope.
Such a ruling could allow some projects, including SouthCoast Wind, to move forward, while others remain in permitting limbo.
Email Anastasia E. Lennon at alennon@newbedfordlight.org.
SouthCoast Wind requested that the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources renew the Falmouth BUAR Special Use Permit 20-001. The board approved the permit on May 29; however, it will not be finalized until a public meeting vote of the board on September 25, 2025.
Our Waterfront can do better than this. Wind isn’t the answer for city revenue.
How many times have these PPA’s been postponed? Every time the company, utilities , and State come together and agree on date it’s been postponed. It reminds me of how the Trump administration creates policies just say whatever you want throw it against the wall and see what sticks.
That’s exactly how Massachusetts legislators have been dealing with renewables for the last four governorships.
Hasn’t this unobtainable, unworkable, never producing Ponzi scheme gone on long enough?
Trillions wasted taxpayer ratepayers money wasted with nothing to show.
When are the Massachusetts and entire country taxpayers going to wake up finally put an end to this political , financial , environmental disastrous policy?
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners should have never been able to purchase land and water off Southern New England, for 135 Million dollars. 500,000 Acres or more.
Great news!
Agree! Oh boohoo poor SouthCoast Wind and Michael Brown. Please leave us in peace and go back to France.
Good news for all of us who love the ocean and are grateful to her inhabitants. Good news for the winged creatures whose migratory path is straight through these machines. Good news for compassionate humans who see this industry for what it is—$$$$$, and the natural world be damned.