Wind farm giant Orsted has hit out at the Trump administration after it was forced hold a $9.4billion rights issue to fund its Sunrise Wind project.
The US government's decision to halt construction on Equinor's Empire Wind in April caused concern and put off investors in the nearby Sunrise Wind project - which will become the worlds largest offshore wind farm.
The damaged investor confidence meant Orsted was unable to sell a stake in Sunrise Wind or secure financing on such positive terms.
This led to Orsted holding a $9.4billion rights issue in a bid to fund the project, which in turn led to its share price dropping by almost a third.
Rasmus Errboe, chief executive of Orsted, The Times reports, said halting Empire Wind was an “unprecedented situation that has significantly increased the perceived risk surrounding offshore wind in the US among investors and among banks”, and that Sunrise Wind has been “fully on track” until then.
Errboe continued: “The regulatory uncertainty in the US means that it has not been possible to complete the divestment and project financing on terms that provide the necessary strengthening of our capital structure and support our business plan.
“This extraordinary and unprecedented situation means that we are faced with a funding requirement that has to be met.”
He said the rights issue to raise $9.4billion was “to further strengthen our capital structure to continue to support a solid investment grade rating".
Orsted operated 12 wind farms in UK waters, including some of the biggest in the world.
The Empire Wind project was halted briefly in April after claims the Biden administration had not carried out sufficient analysis prior to approval, but the order to stop work was reversed a month later.
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