US Offshore Wind Crisis Escalates With $5 Billion in Writedowns

The crisis engulfing the US offshore wind industry escalated as Orsted A/S and BP Plc became the latest developers to take large writedowns on projects, putting President Joe Biden’s ambitious targets for renewable energy generation at risk.

This week alone, energy companies such as Equinor ASA have taken almost $5 billion combined in impairments on turbine farms proposed off New York and New Jersey. The writedowns threaten future investments, potentially jeopardizing Biden’s goal to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity during the next nine years.

The financial hits come as wind developers face a toxic mix of challenges, ...