Ørsted Battles for Survival as Trump Targets Wind Energy
The Danish wind giant Ørsted is fighting for its survival after United States President Donald Trump introduced a barrage of orders limiting the growth of the wind power sector. After declaring an energy emergency in the U.S. upon entering office in January, Trump has spent the past eight months introducing executive orders and legislation to strengthen fossil fuel production and limit the expansion of the renewable energy sector. This has led to greater investor uncertainty and has caused project delays and financial harm to green energy producers.
In January, Trump ordered a review of offshore wind permitting and leasing, and in the months since he has introduced a host of orders and laws aimed at curbing wind energy development, which have led to the halt of several major projects, In August, Europe’s largest wind power company, Ørsted, released a statement blaming President Trump for derailing its business model after its market value dropped by nearly a third. It is now fighting to get its business on track.
Ørsted received approval from shareholders for its $9.4 billion rights issue in early September. The company was forced to raise new capital after its profits fell in recent months due to project delays and investor uncertainty, among other factors. The Trump administration halted work on Ørsted’s 704-MW Revolution Windfarm off the coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut in August, despite the company holding project permits and works being around 80 percent complete.
This led Ørsted to sue the Trump administration in September, in a bid to get the project moving again. Orsted requested that the United States District Court for the District of Columbia dismiss the stop-work order, saying it was arbitrary, capricious, unlawful, and “issued in bad faith”. Orsted and its partner Skyborn Renewables have already invested $5 billion in Revolution Wind, a project which is expected to provide power for over 350,000 homes in the region.
Norway’s wind giant Equinor was one of the companies to support Ørsted’s search for capital, offering $1 billion in funding to help keep it afloat. In a bid of confidence, Equinor said it planned to retain its 10 percent ownership of Ørsted, which it completed last December, making it the second-largest shareholder after the Danish government. The Norwegian firm said it was confident in Ørsted’s underlying business and the competitiveness of offshore wind in the future energy mix. As part of the move, Equinor plans to nominate a candidate to Ørsted’s board of directors.
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