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

By Stine Jacobsen

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – European wind power stocks fell on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew support for new offshore wind turbines on his first day in office, deepening the crisis in an industry that had turned to the U.S. to revive their destiny.

The biggest loser, Denmark’s Orsted (CSE:), which fell 17%, was further weighed down by impairments of its US businesses.

The global offshore wind industry, which was initially booming, has struggled to achieve the carbon reductions sought by many governments as rising costs, supply chain problems and planning problems slowed development.

The outlook for wind in the US was brighter due to former President Joe Biden’s green investment policies.

But Trump, long known for supporting fossil fuels, on Monday suspended new federal offshore wind leases pending an environmental and economic review, saying wind turbines are ugly, expensive and harmful to wildlife.

Orsted on Tuesday reported 12.1 billion Danish crowns ($1.69 billion) in impairments related to the U.S. offshore market, triggering a sell-off that sent its share price down about 84% from its peak in Year 2021 pressed.

A delay and higher costs for Orsted’s Sunrise Wind project, expected to be the largest U.S. offshore wind farm when completed, were the main reason for the slump, analysts said.

However, the company also pointed to disruptions to seabed leases that could be directly related to Trump, Sydbank analyst Jacob Pedersen told Reuters.

“Orsted now has some assets in the US that are worthless. If nothing can be built because of Trump, Orsted will not be able to sell or use the leases,” he said.

Other companies, including wind power development companies, saw smaller declines.

Portugal IT Renovaveis (ELI:) German stocks fell around 1.6% RWE (LON:) lost around 0.5%, Norway’s Equinor fell 2.2% and wind turbine maker Vestas fell almost 3% in afternoon trade.

of Italy Prysmian (BIT:), the world’s largest cable manufacturer and a major player in offshore wind transmission, said on Tuesday it was abandoning its plan to build a facility in the United States to produce cables for offshore wind farms.

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

RWE SAYS NO DEPRECIATION IN VALUE

Germany’s RWE, the world’s second-largest offshore wind project developer after Orsted, said there was no need for impairments on a 2.8 gigawatt offshore wind project in the United States that it is developing jointly with Britain National network (LON:).

“The executive memorandum on offshore wind energy came as no surprise,” the company said. “We currently see no need for disruption as the seabed lease runs at least until the 2060s and therefore there is a long way to go to realize the project at a later date.”

EDPR and Vestas declined to comment.

Vestas was awarded a contract by 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 plans the Southcoast Wind project along the Massachusetts coast, with construction scheduled to begin later this year.

Germany’s Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said at a conference in Berlin that Europe must continue to advance low-carbon energy development during the Trump presidency, regardless of politics and his planned exit from the Paris climate agreement.

The American Clean Power Association (ACP), a U.S. clean energy industry group, said it strongly opposes Trump’s executive order on wind leasing and permitting.

“The states voting for President Trump are eight of the ten most dependent on wind energy, with many of them relying on wind energy for a significant portion of their electricity consumption. Restricting wind energy development in these regions will certainly increase consumers’ electricity bills,” it said.

Despite opposing the wind, Trump issued a series of executive orders aimed at boosting energy production from other sources, driving up shares of U.S. nuclear companies.

($1 = 0.9614 euros)