The world’s biggest wind developer has warned of a profits slump because the British summer was too warm and calm this year.
Danish firm Orsted, which has 12 wind farms in Britain which generate 7 per cent of the country’s electricity, became the latest to bemoan slowing speeds amid worries over the UK’s energy strategy.
The company said it now expects annual profits this year between £2.8 billion and £3.1 billion, compared to previous hopes of between £2.9 billion and £3.25 billion.
It said the ‘primary driver’ for this was ‘the impact from the lower-than-normal offshore wind speeds’ across its sites, which include Hornsea 2, the world’s largest offshore wind farm, off the Yorkshire coast.
It is the latest cause for concern over the country’s energy strategy after Ed Miliband’s Net Zero ambitions were last week blamed for a shock rise in energy bills that will see millions pay more this winter.
Regulator Ofgem said ‘policy costs’ imposed by the energy secretary have contributed to the price cap rising at double the rate forecast by industry analysts.
Households will pay more to switch off wind turbines when they are generating too much power – as well as funding gas plants to step in when the wind is not blowing.
Danish firm Orsted, which has 12 wind farms in Britain which generate 7 per cent of the country’s electricity, became the latest to bemoan slowing speeds amid worries over the UK’s energy strategy. Pictured: A view of the turbines at Orsted’s offshore wind farm near Nysted, Denmark, September 4, 2023
The company said it now expects annual profits this year between £2.8 billion and £3.1 billion, compared to previous hopes of between £2.9 billion and £3.25 billion. Pictured: General view of the Walney Extension offshore wind farm operated by Orsted off the coast of Blackpool, Britain September 5, 2018
It is the latest cause for concern over the country’s energy strategy after Ed Miliband’s Net Zero ambitions were last week blamed for a shock rise in energy bills that will see millions pay more this winter. Pictured: Energy Secretary Ed Milliband
Although it once had lofty ambitions to become the world’s first renewable energy supermajor, Orsted ‘seem to be going from one calamity to the next over the last few years’, Ben Yearsley, investment consultant at Fairview Investing, said.
It won investor approval for almost £7 billion to help it fund projects in the US, which have been thrown into uncertainty by Donald Trump’s backlash against wind.
The group also said yesterday it would take legal action in a bid to restart work on an offshore wind project that was halted by the US Government last month.
Trump has long been a critic of wind, describing it as a ‘very expensive, very ugly energy’.
Last week, he warned that Mr Miliband’s obsession with Net Zero was pushing electricity prices ‘through the roof’ in the UK.
Shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho said: ‘Ed promised to cut everyone’s energy bills by £300 but bills will soon be £200 higher than when he took office – and his plans to make our energy system expensive and unreliable mean they’re only going to keep going up. Cheap, reliable energy has to come first.’
It follows similar alarm bells over wind speed set off last month by German energy giant RWE.
RWE blamed ‘unfavourable wind conditions’ for rising wholesale electricity prices in Europe and its declining profits.
