Offshore wind energy company shares have continued to plummet, as highlighted by the equity performance of key Danish player Orsted, whose share price slumped 23 percent yesterday, falling to a seven-year low. Higher interest rates and a rise in the cost of materials have been cited as key factors.
The slide was preceded by the cancellation of two major projects in the USA as a result of unfavorable market conditions.
Orsted’s share price peaked at 1,350 kr in 2021 and is now worth less than a quarter of that, 259 kr.
The plight of the Danish company, Denmark’s biggest energy company, mirrors the performances of other energy groups with offshore wind energy interests.
Vestas’ share price has fallen from 312 kr to 150 kr over the past couple of years, the Siemens Gamesa share has slumped from 41 euros to 15 euros, Ming Yang’s share is down to 15 yuan from 34 yuan and the Nordex share price is at 10 euros from 24 euros.
Share prices in the RES sector, overall, have also been affected up to a certain degree, but the offshore wind sector has certainly been hit hardest.
As put by Bloomberg columnist Javier Blas: “If you are building something big, requiring lots of financing, plus steel, copper and plastic, perhaps it would be not such a bad idea to hedge some of that interest rate and commodity price risk”.
Attention has turned to a major wind energy package announced by the European Commission just days ago, its aim being to achieve a capacity of 420 GW in wind energy by 2030, as part of the REPower EU initiative.
This support will certainly help the offshore wind sector, but it remains to be seen if it can compensate for the adverse economic climate and high interest rates.