DUESSELDORF, Aug 27 (Reuters) - RWE, the world's No. 2

developer of offshore wind, sees no need to write down a

3-gigawatt project in the United States, its CEO said, just days

after the U.S. government ordered bigger rival Orsted to stop

construction on an advanced site.

The so-called Community Offshore Wind project, which RWE

owns in a 73%-27% ownership split with Britain's

National Grid, has been put on ice and no investment

decision has been taken, Markus Krebber told journalists.

Offshore wind has been in the crosshairs of U.S. President

Donald Trump, whose administration has taken several steps to

halt or prevent construction of projects off the U.S. coast.

Trump has described wind turbines as "garbage" in the past.

Over the weekend, the U.S. ordered Denmark's Orsted

, the offshore wind sector's biggest player, to stop

construction on an offshore wind project near Rhode Island.

"We have pulled the plug," Krebber said with regard to

Community Offshore Wind, reiterating earlier comments that the

construction on the project had not yet started.

Krebber said he therefore saw no need to write down the

project, which has a book value of 800 million euro ($937

million). He said that if political opposition persisted against

the sector it could become a matter for the courts given lease

payments have been made in the past.

"If the investment opportunity is frustrated, then we need

to talk about the lease payments," Krebber said.

"It cannot be that the federal government says 'I will allow

you to build offshore in my waters, but in return I want

payments from you', and then once the payments have been made,

it says, 'It's no longer possible'."

Krebber also said RWE had no interest in taking on offshore

wind projects in Japan that Mitsubishi ( MSBHF ) is withdrawing

from.

($1 = 0.8542 euros)