Trump’s anti-wind policy hits European companies By Reuters

By Steen Jacobsen

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – European wind stocks fell on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump cut support for new offshore wind power on his first day in office, adding to pain in an industry that had turned to the United States to help revive its fortunes.

The biggest decliner, Denmark’s Orsted ( CSE: ), which fell 17%, came under further strain due to the impairment of its US businesses.

The global offshore wind industry, initially booming, has struggled to meet the carbon cuts pursued by many governments as rising costs, supply chain issues and planning issues have slowed development.

The outlook for US wind looked more favorable because of former President Joe Biden’s green investment policies.

But Trump, a long-time proponent of fossil fuels, on Monday suspended new federal offshore wind leases pending an environmental and economic review, saying wind turbines are ugly, expensive and harm wildlife.

Orsted on Tuesday reported 12.1 billion Danish kroner ($1.69 billion) in impairment charges related to the U.S. offshore market, triggering a selloff that dragged its share price about 84 percent below a 2021 peak.

Analysts said the main reason for the decline was the delay and higher costs of Orsted’s Sunrise Wind project, which is expected to be the largest offshore wind farm in the US.

But the company also cited subsea lease write-downs that could be directly linked to Trump, Sydbank analyst Jacob Pedersen told Reuters.

“Orsted now has some assets in the US that are worthless. If there is nothing to build because of Trump, Orsted can neither sell nor use the leases,” he said.

Other companies, including wind development companies, fell by smaller percentages.

of Portugal EDP ​​Renovaveis (ELI:) shares fell around 1.6%, Germany’s RWE: ( LON: ) fell about 0.5%, Norway’s Equinor fell 2.2% and wind turbine maker Vestas fell nearly 3% in afternoon trade.

of Italy Prismian ( BIT: ), the world’s largest cable maker and a major player in offshore wind transmission, said Tuesday it will abandon plans to build a plant in the United States to make cables for offshore wind farms.

Its shares, which closed at a record high on Monday, lost about 1% on Tuesday.

RWE says there is no impairment

Germany’s RWE, the world’s second-largest developer of offshore wind projects after Orsted, said there was no need for disruptions to a 2.8 gigawatt US offshore wind project it is jointly developing with Britain. National network (LON:).

“The Executive Memorandum regarding offshore wind was not a surprise,” the company said. “Currently, we don’t see a need for a write-down because the seabed lease is in place until at least the 2060s, so there’s a long way to go to do the project later.”

EDPR and Vestas declined to comment.

Vestas won an order from Equinor last year to power the Empire Wind 1 offshore wind project in New York, while EDPR has a 50-50 offshore wind JV with Engie called Ocean Winds, which is developing the Southcoast Wind project Off the coast of Massachusetts, construction is set to begin later this year.

German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck told a conference in Berlin that Europe must continue to expand low-carbon energy under Trump’s presidency, regardless of politics and his planned withdrawal from the Paris climate accord.

The American Clean Energy Association (ACP), the US clean energy industry group, said it strongly opposes Trump’s executive order on wind leasing and permitting.

“The states that voted for President Trump are eight of the top 10 states for wind energy dependence, many of which depend on wind for a significant share of their electricity use. Restricting wind development in these regions will certainly increase energy costs for consumers,” said

Although opposed to wind, Trump issued a series of orders aimed at boosting energy production from other sources, lifting the shares of US nuclear power companies.

($1 = 0.9614 EUR)