Shares in European wind power companies have fallen after US President Donald Trump suspended offshore leasing for wind on his first day in office, adding to pain in an industry that had turned to the US to help revive its fortunes.
The global offshore wind industry has struggled to play the role that many governments had envisaged in their plans to reduce carbon emissions.
Escalating costs, supply chain issues and planningdelays have hit the industry and led to project cancellations and delays.
Former President Joe Biden's green investment policy had provided support for the sector. Trump on Monday suspended new federal offshore wind leasing pending an environmental and economic review, saying wind turbines are ugly, expensive and harm wildlife.
Denmark's Orsted was the biggest decliner yesterday, plunging 17% as it took a $1.69 billion impairment charge on US projects.
A delay and higher costs for Orsted's Sunrise Wind project, which once completed is expected to be the largest US offshore wind farm, were the main reason for the share price plunge, analysts said.
The company also flagged impairments on seabed leases that could be directly linked to Trump, Sydbank analyst Jacob Pedersen told Reuters.
"Orsted now has some assets in the US that are worthless. If there is nothing to be built because of Trump, Orsted can neither sell nor use the leases," he said.
Other companies involved in the wind industry also fell.
Portugal's EDP Renovaveis shares fell by around 1.6%, Germany's RWE shed around 0.5%, Norway's Equinor dropped by 2.2% and wind turbine manufacturer Vestas fell by nearly 3%.
Italy's Prysmian said it would abandon a plan to build a plant in the US to make cables for offshore wind parks.
Meanwhile, stocks in nuclear companies rallied on Trump's support for boosting power supplies to meet the rising needs for data processing.
Stocks of US-based uranium miners like Energy Fuels and enCore Energy rose over 4%, while nuclear power companies like utility Vistra, Talen Energy and Constellation Energy were up between 4% and 8% in the afternoon trade.
Trump's energy secretary pick, Chris Wright, told US senators in his confirmation hearing last week that his first priority would be to expand domestic energy production including nuclear power and liquefied natural gas.
Risk to existing wind power projects
The US has around 2.4 gigawatts (GW) of advanced-stage offshore wind developments that have reached final investment decision and are under construction. Those are unlikely to be impacted by the order, according to Rystad Energy.
The environmental and economic review of existing offshore wind leases could, however, pose some risk for developers of existing projects, analysts said.
The American Clean Power Association (ACP), a US clean energy industry group, said it strongly opposed Trump's executive order on wind leasing and permitting.
"States voting for President Trump are eight of the top 10 states in terms of reliance on wind power with many depending on wind for a significant share of their electricity use. Restricting wind development in these regions is certain to increase consumer energy bills," it said.
In 2024, the oil and gas industry donated $32.3m to Trump and groups affiliated to him, as per data from OpenSecrets. In comparison, Trump was able to raise just $453,687 from the US renewable sector.
The US renewable industry contributed $2.9m in political donations, with 78.7% of it going to Democrat candidates.
