Orsted Cuts Earnings Due To Lower Offshore Wind Speeds

A day after filing a court case against the US government’s decision to stop work on its project off the coast of Rhode Island, the Danish renewable energy producer Orsted on Friday cut its full-year earnings guidance following lower-than-normal offshore wind speeds during July and August.

At its extraordinary general meeting held this morning, Orsted said that the primary driver for the adjustment to the EBITDA guidance has been the impact from the lower-than-normal offshore wind speeds across the offshore portfolio, which has had an adverse EBITDA impact of approximately $190 million relative to normalised wind speeds during 2025.

“A delay of the Greater Changhua 2b construction project will also adversely impact EBITDA in 2025 by approximately $47 million,” Orsted said.

Following lower-than-normal offshore wind speeds during July and August, Orsted has adjusted its full-year 2025 EBITDA guidance excluding new partnerships and cancellation fees of $4.76 billion to $4.23 billion, compared to its previous guidance of $3.92 billion to $4.9 billion. However, the gross investments guidance for the full-year 2025 of $7.83 billion to $8.46 billion is reiterated, Orsted explained.

Project Construction Halted

It may be recalled that the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has directed Orsted to stop work on its Revolution Wind project, a joint venture with Global Infrastructure Partner’s Skyborn Renewables, which was nearing completion, last month.

The Bureau said that it needed time to address concerns arising from a review commissioned by the US government, which suspended new federal wind leases shortly after the President Trump’s inauguration early this year.

Revolution Wind was 80% complete, with all offshore foundations and 45 of 65 wind turbines already installed. It was scheduled to become fully operational next year, when it was expected to produce enough energy to power 350,000 homes across Rhode Island and Connecticut.

“While Revolution Wind will continue to seek to work collaboratively with the Administration and other stakeholders toward a prompt resolution, it believes that BOEM lacked legal authority for the stop-work order and that the stop-work order’s stated basis violated applicable law,” Orsted said.

Orsted’s stop-work order follows a similar move by the administration against Norway’s Equinor, which was forced to halt work on its Empire Wind project off the New York coast earlier this year before the order was lifted a month later.

The development’s come as Orsted prepares to raise $9.4 billion through a rights issue, seeking new funds to shore up its balance sheet.