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Ørsted’s two major US offshore wind projects are back on track to complete as scheduled, its chief executive said, after a court lifted a suspension imposed by the Trump administration on national security grounds.
The Danish company’s projects off the north-east US coast are among five major US offshore wind developments that had their leases suspended by Washington in late December.
Rasmus Errboe said on Friday that the world’s largest offshore wind developer’s Revolution Wind project, a joint venture with Skyborn Renewables, should produce its first electricity “within weeks” and be commercially operational in the second half of this year, after the US District Court of Columbia lifted the suspension on January 12.
Ørsted’s wholly owned Sunrise Wind project, whose suspension was lifted on February 2, should reach commercial operations in the second half of 2027.
“We are fully back to work and construction on both projects is moving forward according to plan,” Errboe said.
Nonetheless, on Friday Ørsted reported a DKr600mn (€80.3mn) impairment due to the costs of the interruption, as it announced its fourth-quarter and annual results for 2025.
The Copenhagen-listed company posted adjusted annual earnings (ebitda) for the year of DKr25bn, up 1 per cent on the previous year. Fourth-quarter earnings came in at DKr8bn, up 7 per cent year-on-year.
Ørsted reiterated its guidance for 2026 of earnings on the same basis of more than DKr28bn and plans to reinstate its dividend in 2026, following a bruising few years in which it frequently surprised the market with negative news.
Errboe, who became chief executive in February 2025, is trying to restore the company’s fortunes after problems with its US offshore wind projects caused major financial strain, culminating in October when it had to raise around $9bn in a rights issue.
It entered the US offshore wind market early but was caught out in 2023 as interest rates and other industry costs rose, while this year it and other developers have battled several attempts to thwart the industry from the Trump administration, which believes wind power is costly and ineffective.
“There are no big surprises, which given the track record of Ørsted is positive,” said Tancrede Fulop, senior equity analyst at Morningstar.
Analysts at RBC said it was a “solid set of results”. Its shares climbed more than 3 per cent by mid-morning.
Errboe has strengthened the company’s finances by selling off a stake in major offshore projects in the US and Taiwan as well as its European onshore business, and is now focusing on getting its current portfolio of 8.1 gigawatts of offshore wind projects finished.
After getting burned in the US, it also plans to focus future projects on Europe and a few Asia-Pacific markets including Taiwan. Errboe said he was encouraged by recent commitments by several European governments and the UK to support the development of around 15GW of offshore wind annually between 2031 and 2040.