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What's up with offshore wind in New England? Here's a map
When it comes to the U.S. offshore wind industry, big changes are underway.
Since re-taking office last year, President Trump has worked to make good on a campaign promise to "end" the industry. He's issued a flurry of executive actions, including one that directed all federal agencies to stop issuing new permits to projects in development. He signed a bill into law that eliminates important tax credits for wind developers. And his administration handed down several stop-work orders to projects under construction, though some of those were later reversed, or overturned by a court.
It's a lot to keep track of, especially here in New England, where there are 14 offshore wind lease areas with several projects that are either under construction or close to starting construction. So we made a map to help.
Scroll below the map for a more detailed explanation of what these projects entail and their status.
New England Wind 1 and 2
Status: Pre-construction development
Location: 20 miles south of Martha's Vineyard
Connects to land: New England Wind 1 will connect in Barnstable, Mass. There's no connection point yet for New England Wind 2.
Developer: Avangrid
Number of turbines: Up to 129
Power generation: Up to 1,870 megawatts, or about what's needed to power 1 million homes.
Sells electricity to: The first phase of the project, New England Wind 1, is expected to sell 791 megawatts to Massachusetts. Negotiations over this power contract have been delayed several times because of federal uncertainty.
Federal approval granted: July 2024
How the Trump administration has affected this project: On Dec. 2, the administration filed a motion in federal court asking a judge for permission to rescind the projects' Construction and Operations Plan. This is the final permit an offshore wind farm needs to begin construction.
The project developer, Avangrid, has until mid-January to respond to the motion. The company had planned to start construction in 2025 and begin producing power in 2029.
Revolution Wind
Status: Under construction, partially operating
Location: 15 miles south of Rhode Island, 12 miles southwest of Martha's Vineyard
Connects to land: North Kingstown, R.I.
Developer: Ørsted and Global Infrastructure Partners’ Skyborn Renewables
Number of turbines: 65
Power generation: Up to 704 megawatts, or about what's needed to power 350,000 homes
Sells electricity to: Rhode Island and Connecticut
Federal approval granted: November 2023
How the Trump administration has affected this project: The administration has disrupted construction on Revolution Wind twice.
In the first instance, on Aug. 22, the U.S. Interior Department issued a stop-work, citing an unspecified national security concern. At the time of the order, the project was 80% complete. Two weeks later, Ørsted sued the government and asked for a preliminary injunction so construction could resume. Connecticut and Rhode Island filed a similar lawsuit. On Sept. 22, a federal judge sided with Ørsted and temporarily lifted the stop-work order. The company resumed construction the same week.
Then, on Dec. 22, the administration suspended leases for five offshore wind projects under construction, including Revolution Wind. At the time, the project was 87% complete and a few weeks away from beginning power production. Ørsted once again sued the government and requested a preliminary injunction so it could resume construction on Jan. 12.
In mid-March, the company announced it had started to send electricity to the New England Grid.
SouthCoast Wind 1 and 2
Status: Paused
Location: 20 miles south of Nantucket
Connects to land: SouthCoast Wind 1 will connect in Somerset, Mass. There's no connection point yet for SouthCoast 2.
Developer: Ocean Winds
Number of turbines: Up to 141
Power generation: Up to 2,400 megawatts, or about what's needed to power 840,000 homes in the region
Sells electricity to: The first phase of the project, SouthCoast 1, is expected to sell 1,287 megawatts of power to Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Negotiations over this power contract have been delayed several times because of federal uncertainty.
Federal approval granted: SouthCoast got its major federal approval in January 2025, but it still needed three minor federal permits when Trump took office. The new administration paused all permitting for offshore wind on Jan. 20, so the project is in limbo.
How the Trump administration has affected this project: Beyond the permitting freeze, a federal judge ruled on Nov. 4 that the Trump administration could reconsider the Biden-era approval of the project's Construction and Operations Plan, the last major federal permit an offshore wind project needs to start putting turbines in the water.
South Fork Wind
Status: Fully operational since March 2024
Location: 35 miles east of Long Island
Connects to land: East Hampton, N.Y.
Developer: Ørsted and Global Infrastructure Partners’ Skyborn Renewables
Number of turbines: 12
Power generation: Up to 132 megawatts, or about what's needed to power 70,000 homes
Sells electricity to: New York
Federal approval granted: January 2022
How the Trump administration has affected this project: So far, South Fork Wind has not been directly affected by any of the Trump administration's offshore wind policies or regulation changes.
Sunrise Wind
Status: Under construction
Location: 30 miles east of Long Island
Connects to land: Smith Point, N.Y.
Developer: Ørsted
Number of turbines: 84
Power generation: Up to 924 megawatts, or about what's needed to power 600,000 homes
Sells electricity to: New York
Federal approval granted: June 2024
How the Trump administration has affected this project: On Dec. 22, the administration suspended leases for five offshore wind projects under construction, including Sunrise Wind. Ørsted sued the government on Jan. 6 and requested a preliminary injunction so it could resume construction. A federal judge granted the injunction on Feb. 2. The project is nearly 45% complete and is expected to start producing power in late 2026.
Vineyard Wind 1
Status: Under construction, partially operating
Location: 15 miles south of Martha's Vineyard
Connects to land: Barnstable, Mass.
Developer: 50-50 partnership between Avangrid and Vineyard Offshore
Number of turbines: 62
Power generation: Up to 806 megawatts, or about what's needed to power 400,000 homes
Sells electricity to: Massachusetts
Federal approval granted: May 2021
How the Trump administration has affected this project: On Dec. 22, the administration suspended leases for five offshore wind projects under construction, including Vineyard Wind.
At the time of the suspension, the project's operational turbines were capable of producing up to 572 megawatts of electricity, meaning more than two-thirds of the project is complete. The developers were allowed to continue producing power even though new construction work was prohibited.
On Jan. 15, Vineyard Wind sued the federal government and asked a judge to issue a temporary pause on the federal stop-work order so the company could resume construction. The judge granted that pause on Jan. 27.
In mid-March, the company announced it had finished offshore construction and was working to connect the final turbines to the grid.
Other projects in region
The following projects are in the early stages of development:
Avangrid's lease areas in the Gulf of Maine
Invenergy's lease areas in the Gulf of Maine
How the Trump administration has affected these projects: Because of the federal freeze on offshore wind permitting, they have effectively been on pause since Trump took office.
This article was originally published on October 01, 2025.
