Ørsted crashes to heavy loss in 2023 amid US offshore wind struggles
Ørsted crashes to heavy loss in 2023 amid US offshore wind struggles | Windpower Monthly
The DKK 20.2 billion loss followed a DKK 15 billion (€2 billion) profit just a year earlier and prompted Ørsted to update its business plan, including by lowering capacity targets, exiting several nascent offshore wind markets, accelerating sales of project stakes and cutting jobs worldwide.
Without impairment losses and cancellation fees, Ørsted would have made a net profit of DKK 14.9 billion (€1.9 billion) in 2023.
Last autumn, Ørsted scrapped plans for its Ocean Wind 1 and 2 projects off New Jersey while it also pulled out of offtake agreements for its Skipjack offshore wind cluster off Maryland in January. Today (7 February) the developer confirmed it had pulled out of the growing Norwegian, Portuguese and Spanish offshore wind markets and deprioritised its development activities in Japan, and that it planned for a “leaner development” within floating wind and power-to-x.
Ørsted CEO Mads Nipper said the company faced “substantial challenges” in 2023. He added: “Our financial results are adversely affected by the impairments we took on our US offshore projects in the third quarter of 2023 and the provision for cancellation fees related to ceasing the development of the offshore project Ocean Wind 1.”
More to follow
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