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Delaware state senators voted to approve legislation overturning a Sussex County zoning decision impacting a controversial $128 million offshore wind project, despite strong opposition over concerns about local control.

Democrats outvoted Republicans 15-5 on the bill. Republican Sen. Gerald Hocker of Oceanview was present in the Senate, but absent for the vote. Every Republican senator spoke in opposition to the bill.

US Wind, a Baltimore-based subsidiary of an Italian energy company, has planned two projects off the Delmarva Peninsula that would provide Maryland with renewable power. The first of which, dubbed MarWin, would construct 21 turbines to generate 300 megawatts of electricity — enough to power 92,000 homes.

The Sussex County Council voted 4-1 late last year to reject a permit application for US Wind subsidiary Renewable Development’s substation at the Indian River Power plant, a former coal-burning station, in Dagsboro.

The company plans to run power transmission cables from its proposed wind farm, located 3 miles offshore in the Atlantic Ocean to 3Rs Beach at Delaware Seashore State Park. The cables would run beneath Delaware-regulated wetlands, state waters and the Indian River Bay, and connect to the proposed substation.

The bill would require the permitting of an electric substation as a conditional use in a heavy industrial zone, including for a proposed renewable energy generation project of at least 250 megawatts. It is retroactive, meaning that if a county previously denied a permit that met these conditions on or after Aug. 3, 2023, the permit would automatically be approved if the legislation were signed into law. Bill sponsor, state Sen. Stephanie Hansen, D-Middletown, said it only applies to that one county council permit decision.

State Sen. Brian Pettyjohn, R-Georgetown, said it was the council’s right to deny the land use permit.

“This is about us here telling Sussex County that you don’t know what you’re doing and we know better than you, and I’ve really got a problem with that,” he said.

The state has been in the process of creating a state energy plan and a procedure to purchase offshore wind.

Hansen argued that overturning the council’s decision is justified because the state is experiencing electricity supply issues, pushing up utility bills due to having to rely on other states to produce most of its electricity. In 2023, she said, Delaware received about three-fifths of its energy from other states via the regional power grid PJM Interconnection. The grid is made up of 13 states and Washington D.C.

“Broad legislative and administrative programs to specific project permitting have now been upended by the decision of one local government and that one decision has broad implications for all Delawareans,” she said. “That’s why this legislation is so important. This is not state government usurping local control. This is about state government taking back its ability to meaningfully act and protect all Delawareans when it comes to issues of energy pricing, energy supply and energy reliability, these are issues of state level concern.”

US Wind has appealed the county’s denial in Delaware Superior Court, but the legislation could help fast track the project. US Wind CEO Jeffrey Grybowski said last week the company has the necessary federal and state permits to start construction in 2027, except for the substation. He said they anticipate being operational by 2029.

Some Republican senators argued the state should let the court process play out. Hansen called delay “as deadly as denial” because of the time stages of appeal and a possible remand of the court case could take to conclude.

“If there was an easier way to get this done, I can tell you, I’d be doing it,” she said. “Because this is not fun. But there’s not, there’s really not. We have to get to a permit issuance so that this project can go forward.”

Testifying before the Senate on Tuesday, Grybowski argued the project would benefit the Delmarva area, not just Maryland.

“All of the energy we produce will be interconnected into Delaware,” he said. “Maryland will be buying the offshore wind renewable energy credits from the project. All of the energy is sold into the regional grid, which will allow it to benefit everyone in the region, most specifically folks in Delaware.”

The US Wind will give 150,000 renewable energy credits to Delaware utilities annually, estimated at $76 million over 20 years, to help meet new clean energy requirements. Hansen said this will help lower electricity bills.

The legislation moves to the House for consideration.

The ongoing Delaware debate is happening in the shadows of a larger federal fight over wind energy projects. On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order pausing approvals, permits and loans for all wind energy projects both onshore and offshore.

A coalition of states, including Delaware and Maryland, has sued to block the order, claiming the White House doesn’t have the authority to unilaterally shut down the permitting process. A hearing on the federal government’s motion to dismiss is scheduled for June 18.