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The world’s largest offshore wind developer is halting work on a vast UK project blaming rising costs and risk of delays, in a blow to Britain’s clean energy goals.
Ørsted said on Wednesday it was stopping spending and cancelling contracts for its Hornsea 4 project in the North Sea, a 2.4 gigawatt project that would have been capable of powering more than a million homes.
The project won a contract from the UK government last year guaranteeing it a fixed electricity price of £58.87 per megawatt hour, but Ørsted said it could not make the proposed wind farm work.
“Adverse macroeconomic developments, continued supply chain challenges, and increased execution, market and operational risks have eroded the value creation,” said chief executive Rasmus Errboe.
The Danish energy company said the decision would cost it DKr3.5bn-DKr4.5bn this year (£399mn-£513mn) in break costs from cancelled contracts with suppliers.
