Timid profit for Ørsted, weakened by its difficulties in the United States, in 2024

In 2023, already weighed down by its American adventure, the group had suffered losses of more than 20 million crowns.

"We are reducing our investment programme," Ørsted wrote. By 2030, investments will be reduced from the previously announced 270 billion crowns to 210 to 230 billion.

The Danish green giant announced significant writedowns (1,6 billion euros) at the end of January due to rising interest rates and delays in an offshore wind project in the United States.

Over the whole of 2024, depreciations amounted to more than 2 billion euros, also due to higher costs, said the group, which also changed its boss on January 31.

"Part of the write-downs announced in January were linked to rising interest rates. The most worrying thing is the write-downs linked to additional costs and delays on one of the offshore projects in the United States," analyst Tancrède Fulop of the Morningstar institute told AFP.

Wind power, the core business of the Danish group, is in a "complex" situation, Ørsted acknowledges, made worse by the return of Donald Trump to power in the United States.

"Trump and his first decisions are bad for the offshore industry because all the projects that have not had their authorization are frozen and in terms of supply costs, for an industry to develop, the more projects there are, the better, the costs go down," noted Mr. Fulop.

During the year, Ørsted reported having 31,0 GW of capacity, of which more than half (18,2 GW) is in operation, and the remainder is either under construction (7,6 GW) or awarded (5,2 GW). The group also boasts "substantial pipelines" of 19 GW of offshore wind and 16 GW of onshore wind.

However, "we continue to face and manage supply chain and construction challenges on our two offshore construction projects in the United States, Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind," warned the group, which is banking heavily on its partnership and divestment program.

The proceeds from transactions in 2024 represented 2,9 billion euros and the group is aiming for a total of between 9,4 and 10,7 billion by 2026.