Orsted Soars After U.S. Judge Clears Offshore Wind Project To Resume

Shares of Danish wind giant Orsted A/S jumped the most in months in Copenhagen trading after a U.S. federal judge allowed construction to resume on its 80% completed Revolution Wind project off Rhode Island, blocking a recent Trump administration stop order that a national security probe had prompted. 

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted Orsted a preliminary injunction that would “restart impacted activities” at the Revolution Wind project, “while the underlying lawsuit challenging the stop-work order progresses,” according to Orsted. 

Late last month, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management ordered Orsted to halt all offshore construction activities on the wind project. The order stems from a Presidential Memorandum issued on Jan. 20, which triggered a broad review of renewable projects on the Outer Continental Shelf. 

The ruling is major relief for Orsted, which raised $9.5 billion in emergency funds through a recent rights offering (67% discount to market) to stabilize its balance sheet after the Trump administration’s crackdown on unreliable ‘green’ energy. It also reduces the immediate risk of credit downgrades and helps reassure investors that key U.S. projects move forward. 

Sydbank analyst Jacob Pedersen told clients, ”Orsted won an important victory last night,” adding, “Remaining risks may still make life difficult for Orsted, but the risk of a credit rating downgrade to junk should actually be reduced slightly.”

Shares in Copenhagen jumped as much as 12% earlier before trimming half the gains to trade up about 6%. The stock is down 35% year-to-date and roughly 85% below its 2021 peak. Gloom lingers over Orsted as the Trump administration could still intervene while the broader legal case is ongoing. 

“While the judge’s injunction should provide near-term relief to Orsted shares, this does not protect Revolution from the outcome of the ongoing legal case, nor possible further actions from the US government,” Citi analyst Jenny Ping told clients. 

UBS analyst Justinus Steinhorst noted that Renewables {UBXERNEW} gained about 3% following Orsted’s court ruling. 

“The ruling relieves near-term execution risk as the company pursues a roughly $9.5 billion equity raise to stabilize its balance sheet, and it bolsters confidence that two critical US projects will proceed rather than face further costly delays,” Goldman analyst Seb Dawson noted. 

Here’s how it all went down:

• Orsted Shares Crash Below IPO Price On “Unexpected” Rights Issue

• Wind Giant Orsted Suffers Worst Week On Record As Green Energy Demise Accelerates

• Orsted Shares Crash To Record Lows After Trump Halts Rhode Island Offshore Wind Project

• UBS: Orsted Lawsuit Signals Wind Talks With Trump Admin “Not Going Well”

• Orsted To Raise Emergency Capital At 67% Discount As Green Energy Bubble Deflates

• U.S. National Security Probe Targets Wind Industry

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