Equinor Pushes Back First Power from Empire Wind Offshore Wind Farm to 2027

Norway's Equinor told investors that its Empire Wind offshore wind project off the coast of New York has pushed back its first power date to the first half of 2027. The company attributed the delay to construction delays in the United States of the support vessels needed to install the turbines, factors it described as beyond its control.

According to CFO Torgrim Reitan, speaking during the presentation of third-quarter 2026 results, the project is approximately 80% complete. All 54 turbine foundations have already been installed, and the offshore substation and cable laying have been completed, while turbine installation, scheduled to begin early next year, is the remaining stage and the one causing the delay. Empire Wind is located about 14 miles south of Long Island, will have a capacity of 810 MW, and, according to Equinor, will be able to supply around 500,000 New York households.

The installation system uses the vessel Maersk Viridis, built at the Seatrium shipyard in Singapore for Maersk Wind, which arrived off Pascagoula, Mississippi, in August for testing and preparation. Since that vessel is foreign-built, it cannot transport components between U.S. points under the Jones Act, meaning the project depends on tugs and barges specially designed and built in the U.S. to move turbine components from the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal to the installation vessel offshore. According to Splash247, these barges and tugs are being developed by Edison Chouest Offshore and built at Bollinger Shipyards.

Equinor stated that the new schedule will not change the project's total cost, estimated at around $7.5 billion, although part of the spending will shift from 2026 to 2027. The company also expects to retain about $2.5 billion in U.S. investment tax credits, with approximately $2 billion to be recognized in 2027 and the remaining $500 million in 2028, with the schedule change not affecting those timelines.

The project went through a turbulent period marked by two stop-work orders from the Trump administration, one in April 2025 and another in December 2025 issued by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management alongside four other wind projects. Equinor obtained court rulings allowing construction to continue, and the case was dismissed on September 30, 2026, after the order expired, removing the risk that a $2.7 billion loan for the project would become due. Equinor had previously already abandoned a second phase of Empire Wind due to rising material costs and the administration's opposition to offshore wind energy.