Shareholders in Danish energy company Orsted have approved an €8 billion rights issue aimed at securing funding for the Sunrise Wind project off the U.S. East Coast and reinforcing the company’s balance sheet.
At an extraordinary general meeting on Thursday, approximately 99% of shareholders backed the proposal, which had already received support from the Danish state, Orsted’s majority shareholder. The move follows what the company described as an “extraordinary situation” impacting its U.S. offshore wind activities.
“The triggering factor has been the widespread uncertainty among banks and investors, which led to an acute capital requirement,” said Rasmus Errboe, Orsted’s chief executive, during the business update.
The capital increase is intended to support Orsted’s 924 megawatt (MW) Sunrise Wind project in U.S. federal waters and help the company deliver on its broader offshore wind pipeline, which totals 8.1 gigawatts (GW) under construction through 2027.
The company reiterated its commitment to the capital raise following a recent directive from the Trump administration to halt construction on Orsted’s 704MW Revolution Wind project off Rhode Island. Orsted has filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking to overturn the order and resume work on the project, which it said is 80% complete and expected to be commissioned next year.
Errboe said the new capital “will create a strong financial foundation for Orsted through 2027.”
In a broader business update, the company revised its 2025 adjusted EBITDA guidance — excluding new partnerships and cancellation fees — to a range of €3.21 billion to €3.62 billion, down from a previous forecast of €3.35 billion to €3.75 billion.
Orsted attributed the change to lower-than-normal wind speeds in July and August and a delay in the commissioning of the 300MW Greater Changhua 2b wind farm in Taiwan, which is now expected to come online in the third quarter of 2026 due to damage to an export cable.
The delay is not expected to impact Orsted’s planned partial divestment of the project, projected revenue, or the commissioning timeline for the adjacent Greater Changhua 4 project.
