Orsted to Go Ahead With Building Giant UK Offshore Wind Farm

(Bloomberg) -- Orsted A/S has decided to go ahead with a major UK wind park, removing doubts over whether it could make the project financially viable as it works to bolster its balance sheet after one of its worst years ever. 

The final investment decision on the 2.9 gigawatt project shows that the offshore wind industry is picking back up, after a crisis year. While it’s positive for the world’s biggest offshore wind developer, Orsted still has major financing hurdles to overcome. Shares in the company rose as much as 5%. 

Funding Hornsea-3 might represent a challenge for Orsted, which is undergoing an internal restructuring after abandoned projects in the US left a funding hole of 15 to 18 billion Danish kroner ($2.2 to $2.6 billion) in penalties and threatened its credit rating. The industry has been battling soaring raw-material prices, higher borrowing costs, and long-running supply-chain issues.  

“While this is baked into its current lofty capex budget of around 40 billion Danish kroner a year, we highlight that it will put more stress on Orsted to find cost saving else-where,” Jakob Magnussen, global head of credit research at Danske Bank A/S in Copenhagen, said in a note.

Offshore wind is seen as crucial for countries to achieve their climate goals in an affordable way for consumers because the size and scale of the projects mean lower electricity prices over the long-term.

Orsted had agreed a contract-for-difference for Hornsea in a government-run auction before borrowing costs climbed. Another project from that auction, being developed by Vattenfall AB, was shelved raising doubts about whether the Danish company could get its project off over the line. The company has found a fix by using flexibility in the contract to resubmit a share of Hornsea-3’s capacity into the next auction in hope of a higher price.

If the company doesn’t end up being awarded a contract in next-year’s round, it would expect to bid in future allocation rounds, a company spokesperson said by email. Orsted said it could also pursue corporate power purchase agreements, selling power directly into the market, or a combination of the two. 

Shares in Siemens Energy AG rose as much as 1.5% after Orsted confirmed it had signed an agreement with the company to buy turbines for Hornsea-3. The park will supply power to three million homes and is Orsted’s biggest in the UK to date. 

Sweden’s Vattenfall shelved the nearby 1.4-gigawatt Norfolk Boreas over the summer on concerns about profitability. The company has said it may still hold on to the project, as talks continue with the government to improve conditions for developers. 

(Updates with comments from Orsted on 7th paragraph)

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