Ørsted’s CEO
has said the decision to halt development on the Hornsea 4 wind farm off
the UK coast was not easy to make, but fully ruled out returning to the
project in the future.

Rasmus Errboe
said in a statement made just hours after the shock announcement: “This
is in line with our focus on value over volume in our capital allocation
and shows that we will make the necessary decisions to ensure value creation.

“That being
said, this isn’t a decision we’ve made lightly.”

Supply chain costs,
higher interest rates and an “increased risk to construct and operate”
Hornsea 4 were cited as reasons for cutting the ambitious project, with
mounting stresses having sufficiently deteriorated the viability of the
farm in the long run.

As a result of
the decision, Ørsted will need to pay between £400m and £515m in “breakaway”
costs due to the economic fallout of temporarily scrapping the 2.4GW project.

Rasmus added:
“I want to stress we remain very supportive of the regulatory framework
in the UK and we continue to see strong long-term fundamentals and value
perspectives in offshore wind.”

For more information curated from over
275 offshore wind turbine models, including dimensions and wind speeds,
click
here.