As the Trump administration plays havoc with the wind industry in the US, Denmark’s Orsted has raised $9.35bn to shore up its finances.
Having campaigned to fight renewables once they came into office, the current US administration made no delay in attacking the offshore wind industry, and Denmark’s Ørsted was one of its victims. It ordered the offshore wind developer to stop the huge and almost completed Revolution Wind project off the Rhode island coast in August.
There was some good news for Ørsted in September when a US judge lifted the stop order, but the Danish wind company had flagged to investors that it would need to raise finance through a rights share to stave off further downgrading of its credit rating, as the uncertainty put pressure on its finances.
Now Ørsted says it has raised $9.35bn in a heavily discounted share issue that had been well-flagged to investors. It remains to be seen whether the raise will secure the troubled finances of the company.
The company has said it maintains its plans to complete another major US project, Sunrise Wind, to be situated off the New York coast in the second half of 2027.
“We’re raising capital to cover immediate financing needs from retaining full ownership of Sunrise Wind, to manage risks from regulatory uncertainty in the US, and to strengthen Ørsted’s capital structure so we can deliver on our growth pipeline and long-term value creation,” said Rasmus Errboe, president and CEO of Ørsted.
According to Reuters, the price of 66.6 crowns per share was well below Monday’s market price of 122.35 crowns, and the Danish state, which controls the company, accounted for 50.1pc of the new issue.
Ørsted has a significant presence in Ireland’s wind sector, and in 2024 began construction on its first solar project in Ireland.
The project is located at Gareenleen, roughly 15km from Carlow town. Once completed, the solar farm is expected to create 81MW of power and reduce Ireland’s reliance on fossil fuels. Ørsted said the solar farm will generate enough renewable energy to power 29,000 homes.
The energy company expects this Garreenleen Phase 1 project to be operational in 2026 and bring Ørsted’s operational capacity on the island of Ireland to almost 500MW. As part of the construction project, Ørsted said it was installing the necessary grid infrastructure for Phase 2 of the project, which comprises a further 82MW.
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