Orsted CEO Admits Firm Chased Volume Over Value in Costly US Misstep

The head of Danish offshore wind developer Orsted has openly acknowledged that the company pursued growth targets at the expense of financial discipline in the United States, a strategic error that has weighed on the business for several years.

Rasmus Errboe, who took the chief executive role in January 2025, said on the In Good Company podcast that Orsted was too slow to respond once warning signals emerged in the American market. He traced part of the problem to ambitious projections laid out at a Capital Markets Day in June 2023, which were followed months later by large write-downs linked to the cancellation of the Ocean Wind projects off New Jersey.

“We set the bar too high. We were too focused on volumes, not on value, and then we didn’t pull back fast enough when we saw warning signs in the US,” Errboe said.

The difficulties contributed to an €8 billion rights issue last year, proceeds from which are helping to fund the 924 MW Sunrise Wind project. That development, along with the 704 MW Revolution Wind, remains under construction. Both faced stop-work orders issued by the Trump administration, though those orders were subsequently overturned through legal action.

Errboe also used the podcast to credit the company’s workforce, saying the organisation had demonstrated remarkable resilience — driven, in his view, by employees’ sustained sense of purpose throughout a turbulent period.

The remarks signal a deliberate shift in Orsted’s strategic framing, from capacity ambition toward capital discipline, as the company works to restore investor confidence after several years of losses in its US offshore portfolio.

Source: reNews