Orsted’s American Dream Becomes a Multi Billion-Dollar Nightmare
Shareholders meet next week to vote on a $9.4 billion capital raise, just days after one of the wind power company’s major US projects was closed down.
Donald Trump at the the Trump International Golf course near the Aberdeen Bay Wind Farm, in Balmedie, Scotland, in July.
Photographer: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty ImagesIf Orsted A/s had a company song it would be: Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. For the last decade whenever a project hit trouble, executives from the Danish wind power company were quick to stress that it would ultimately add value. Even when that proved incorrect, they would focus on the next US project that would be better than the last.
That optimism now looks hard to sustain. In early August, Orsted announced a $9.4 billion (60 billion Danish kroner) capital raise to try and shore up its business, which wiped a third off the company's value. Then, just as it sought to persuade shareholders to hand over more cash, the administration of US President Donald Trump ordered Orsted to stop work on the Revolution Wind farm, a $6.3 billion project off the coast of Rhode Island that was close to completion.