The operator of New England’s electric grid warned Monday that the Trump administration’s move to halt a nearly completed offshore wind farm will cause risks to the reliability of the electric grid.
“Delaying the project will increase risks to reliability,” said grid operator ISO New England in a Monday statement.
“Recent heatwaves in New England drove demand for electricity to very high levels and demonstrated that our region needs all generation resources with market obligations to be available to meet demand and maintain required reserves,” the regional transmission operator said.
“Beyond near-term impacts to reliability in the summer and winter peak periods, delays in the availability of new resources will adversely affect New England’s economy and industrial growth, including potential future data centers,” it continued.
The comments come after the Trump administration on Friday issued an order halting activity on the Revolution Wind Project, which was being built off the coast of Rhode Island. The project, which was approved by the Biden administration in 2023, was expected to provide enough electricity for more than 350,000 homes.
The Trump administration said it was halting the project over unspecified concerns related to “national security interests” as well as the “prevention of interference” with other economic uses of the ocean.
“Americans deserve energy that is affordable, reliable, and built to last — not experimental and expensive wind projects that are proven failures,” Aubrie Spady, deputy press secretary for the Interior Department, said in an emailed statement.
“In line with President Donald Trump’s Energy Dominance Agenda, Interior is putting an immediate stop to these costly failures to deliver a stronger energy future and lower costs for American families. Like President Trump said, ‘the days of stupidity are over in the USA!’” Spady added.
The moves come as the administration has repeatedly attacked wind energy, and it sought to similarly block a project that will provide power to New York. It allowed the project to move forward after talks with Gov. Kathy Hochul (D).
Politicians in Rhode Island and Connecticut balked at the Trump administration’s decision and said they would fight for the project.
The governors of Rhode Island and Connecticut said in statements over the weekend that they would work together to address the issue.
Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee (D) said the pair will “pursue every avenue to reverse this decision,” while Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said they would work together to “save this project.”
“This arbitrary decision defies all logic & reason—Revolution Wind’s project was already well underway & employed hundreds of skilled tradesmen & women,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said on the social platform X.
“This is a major set back for a critical project in CT, & I will fight it,” he added.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) called the move “market manipulation.”
“Wind power is one of the fastest, cheapest ways to meet rising electricity demand — discouraging clean energy will raise energy prices and worsen the looming climate crisis — but payback to fossil fuel donors comes first. This is what corruption looks like,” he wrote on X.
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