The shares of the Danish energy giant Ørsted and one of the global leaders in the development of offshore wind power plants experienced a free fall this year.
They fell more than 40 percent in August after the US administration of Donald Trump halted the construction of the Revolution Wind wind farm.
The ban came at a time when construction work was 80 percent complete and 45 of the 65 wind turbines had been installed.
Deterioration of conditions
Revolution Wind had all the necessary federal and state permits and entered into 20-year power sales agreements with the states of Rhode Island and Connecticut.
“I was sitting with my youngest son that Friday evening when our lawyer called me to tell me what had happened. Everything changed,” said Ørsted boss Rasmus Errboe, who has been in office since February 2025.
A US court has already issued a preliminary injunction calling the Trump administration’s move “arbitrary” and allowing work to resume, but the company has not fully recovered from it.
Ørsted has also been facing other problems for a long time, from higher costs of debt repayment and financing of new projects to problems in the supply chain to the deterioration of the mood of investors who are more cautious about green energy.
High borrowing costs have already forced Ørsted to withdraw from two large wind projects in the US in 2023.
The company wrote off 1.8 billion Danish kroner in the third quarter due to problems overseas and ended up in a deep loss. By the end of 2027, a quarter of the total eight thousand employees will be laid off.
Before Christmas, Ørsted’s shares were dealt another blow when the US Department of the Interior suspended five more offshore wind projects off the US East Coast.
Ørsted wind farm
The reason was alleged concerns about national security, specifically the interference of radar systems caused by the movement of large blades. Among the suspended projects was Revolution Wind as well as Sunrise Wind from Ørsted.
The projects of the American company Dominion Energy and the Danish Equinor were also cancelled.
It wasn’t a surprising decision, but another crackdown on the renewables sector during Donald Trump’s administration. The shares of Ørsted, Dominion Energy and Equinor, which somehow recovered from the summer, experienced another slump.
Financial problems
Ørsted’s management tries to raise capital in all sorts of ways. In August, he announced an emergency issue of new shares for 60 billion Danish crowns (eight billion euros).
He offered the shares at half their current value to the largest shareholders. These are the Danish state, which holds a half share in the company, the Norwegian energy company Equinor (10 percent share) and a syndicate of financing banks.
Ørsted intends to use the acquired capital to finance another American wind park Sunrise Wind in New York State. He originally wanted to sell it, but uncertainty about American politics discouraged potential investors.
At least in Europe, Ørsted has some success. In November, he sold a half stake in the world’s largest wind farm, Hornsea 3, on the east coast of England, to the Apollo investment company for $6.5 billion.
The project is due for completion in 2027 and is one of eight offshore wind megaprojects that Ørsted is building around the world.
Hornsea 3 is part of the UK government’s plans to decarbonise the electricity system by 2030. The planned capacity of 2.9 GW will potentially be able to produce enough power for three million homes.
Ørsted boss Rasmus Errboe says that they will finish ongoing projects, but due to rising costs they will rationalize plans for new projects.
See all the winners and losers of 2025. You can find a complete overview in the December issue of INDEX.
