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    • Demand for clean energy shows need for new energy solutions
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    Demand for clean energy shows need for new energy solutions

    Pabio Posted on

    Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and Stine Jacobsen
    | Reuters

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    COPENHAGEN, Nov 5 (Reuters) – Demand for green energy in the United States will grow regardless of who the country’s next president is, major wind energy players Vestas VWS.CO and Orsted ORSTED said on Tuesday. CO.

    Offshore wind developers have seen their profits decline in recent years due to rising raw material costs, high interest rates, inadequate grid connections, supply chain bottlenecks and Chinese competition, prompting companies like BP BP.L and Equinor EQNR.OL to lower their ambitions.

    In the United States, the nascent offshore wind industry has been rocked by canceled projects, postponed lease sales and a construction mishap on the country’s first major offshore wind project.

    Orsted reported construction problems and higher costs at a large U.S. offshore wind project on Tuesday.

    Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris has championed ambitious offshore wind energy goals within President Joe Biden’s administration.

    She is in a tight race with Republican candidate Donald Trump, who has said he will abandon offshore wind projects by executive order on his first day in office if he takes back the White House, saying wind turbines destroy the environment and kill birds and whales.

    “We see that many – both companies and states – have increased demand for relocation of industries and the technology industry,” Orsted CEO Mads Nipper told reporters on Tuesday.

    “We view this as a situation where all sources of energy, including electricity, are needed, regardless of who ends up in the White House.”

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    Shares of Vestas VWS.CO, the world’s largest maker of wind turbines, fell more than 10% on Tuesday after the company warned of falling profit margins this year.

    Vestas CEO Henrik Andersen downplayed investors’ concerns about Tuesday’s election outcome.

    “I don’t think order intake depends on today’s election,” he said in a conference call with analysts.

    “There is currently a general need and demand above supply for new green electrons for data centers,” he added.

    Orsted, the world’s largest offshore wind farm developer, last year booked massive writedowns for canceled U.S. offshore projects due to rising inflation, rising interest rates and delays in the supply chain.

    “This is an industry built from scratch and it is very strongly supported, particularly in the northeastern states, where alternatives for energy supply, and particularly green energy, are difficult ” Nipper said.

    Orsted said a lack of installation vessels and problems with installing an offshore substation on the 704 megawatt (MW) Revolution Wind project contributed to a $1.7 billion cost increase. additional Danish crowns ($248 million) in the third quarter.

    The group’s operating profit fell 14% to 4.44 billion crowns in the quarter. Analysts on average forecast 4.61 billion in a survey provided by the company.

    Profits were helped by the reversal of some of Orsted’s losses last year in the United States.

    Its shares were down 1.5% at 12:39 GMT. They are up about 12% this year, but are down more than a third from their peak in early 2021.

    ($1 = 6.8472 Danish crowns)

    Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen; Editing by Louise Rasmussen, Mark Potter and Barbara Lewis

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