As the developers of two offshore wind farms off Long Island argued in court this month to end Trump administration stop-work orders, their filings for the first time shed light on the cost to build the two massive arrays — a combined $13 billion.

In filings earlier this month, Sunrise Wind, which is scheduled to bring its 924 megawatts of power to Long Island at Smith Point in Shirley by late 2027, said it has “already spent or committed more than $7 billion on the project,” and that it would incur another $1 billion if the project were to be canceled.

Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that last year Orsted issued special new stock to raise $9.4 billion, some $6.3 billion of which was earmarked for completion of Sunrise.

The stop-work order for Sunrise Wind remains in place, with a court hearing scheduled for Feb. 2. The stop-work order alone is costing Sunrise $1 million a day, the company said in its filings. All of Sunrise Wind's energy production is scheduled for the Long Island electric grid, where the company has said it can power some 600,000 homes -- about half of LIPA’s customer base.

Orsted argued that the “compounding impacts of delay” for the Sunrise project also risk the prospect of “project cancellation,” which would result in the project suffering “enterprise-level harm, including losses of more than $8 billion.” Orsted stock has been battered in recent years by losses and write-downs tied to offshore wind, including cancellation of two big New Jersey projects.

Separately, Empire Wind, the 810-megawatt project being built off Jones Beach, revealed in court papers that it had spent $4 billion to date on the project, which is more than 60% complete, and that it would spend another $2 billion to complete it this year. Empire, which last week got the go-ahead from a federal judge to resume work under a preliminary injunction, will bring all its energy to New York City’s grid by the end of this year and 2027.

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The 41st Annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Breakfast drew a crowd of about 400 people to the Hyatt Regency Long Island in Hauppauge yesterday, to honor the life and legacy of the civil rights leader. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that Rev. Charles Coverdale, who conceived the event shortly after joining the First Baptist Church of Riverhead, was honored by the memorial breakfast committee with its Lifetime Achievement Award. The breakfast committee presented MLK Jr. Meritorious Awards to community healthcare advocate Vanessa Baird-Streeter, president and CEO of Health and Welfare Council of Long Island and affordable housing developer and advocate David Gallo, president/cofounder of Georgica Green Ventures. The committee also presented an MLK Jr. Special Recognition Award to Justice Fernando Camacho, acting Suffolk County Supreme Court justice and New York State Court of Claims judge. In remarks accepting his award, Coverdale, who has just retired as senior pastor at First Baptist Church of Riverhead, reflected on his journey from the South Bronx to Harvard to Riverhead. He said he was a city boy called to pastor a church in the country. Coverdale also looked back on the origins of the MLK memorial breakfast. In 1983, the year Coverdale came to Riverhead, Congress adopted legislation setting aside the third Monday in January to honor King’s birthday. Pastor Coverdale said he realized that there was no countywide event celebrating King’s life, so, working with members of his congregation, he started one. It quickly grew to be one of the premier MLK Day events in the region. The Rev. David L. Kelley II, senior pastor at Christ Fellowship Baptist Church in Brooklyn, was the keynote speaker at Monday’s event. Musical selections were performed by the Reverend Dr. Marti Luther King Jr. Freedom Choir. Guest speakers included Rep. Nick LaLota, Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine, and Suffolk County...