European Wind Shares Decline Following Trump’s Offshore Wind Decision

By Stine Jacobsen
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – European wind shares fell on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump axed support for new U.S. offshore wind power on his first day in office. The top decliner, Orsted (CSE:ORSTED), faced significant losses related to impairments on its U.S. ventures.

Orsted’s shares plunged as much as 17% after reporting 12.1 billion Danish crowns ($1.69 billion) in impairment charges linked to the U.S. offshore market. Analysts indicated that delays and increased costs for Orsted’s Sunrise Wind project, anticipated to be the largest U.S. offshore wind farm, were primary contributors to this drop.

Moreover, the company cited impairments on seabed leases which Sydbank analyst Jacob Pedersen suggested could relate directly to Trump’s policies. “Orsted now has some assets in the U.S. that are worthless. If there is nothing to be built because of Trump, Orsted can neither sell nor use the leases,” he stated.

On Monday, President Trump had suspended new federal offshore wind leasing pending further environmental and economic reviews, claiming windmills are unattractive, costly, and harmful to wildlife.

Both Orsted and other firms have struggled to capitalize on the U.S. offshore wind market, with Trump’s intentions to cancel offshore wind projects further complicating the industry’s outlook.

Italy’s Prysmian (BIT:PRY) announced plans to abandon a U.S. manufacturing plant for offshore wind cables. The company, a major player in offshore wind transmission, cited insufficient market conditions in the U.S. and stated that its 18 billion euros backlog was entirely focused on Europe, with no exposure to the U.S.

Prysmian’s project, planned in 2021, involved an investment of approximately 200 million euros ($207 million) in Somerset, Massachusetts, as part of two preliminary contracts worth nearly $900 million in the U.S., which ultimately failed to materialize.

Shares in Prysmian, which closed at a record high on Monday, fell 1.5% by 1208 GMT, while Orsted shares have plummeted around 84% since hitting peaks in 2021, trading down by 13.6%.

Barclays (LON:BARC) analysts noted increased risks for the U.S. offshore wind sector, anticipating that Trump’s policies might halt offshore wind development in the medium term. The U.S. renewable market is essential for growth among several European utility companies, including Orsted, Portugal’s EDP Renovaveis (ELI:EDPR), and Germany’s RWE (LON:0HA0), which saw declines of 2% and 1%, respectively.

Additionally, shares in wind turbine manufacturers Nordex (ETR:NDXG) and Vestas fell about 2%.