Amid Europe’s energy crisis last year, Ørsted faced another dilemma: pressure to keep burning fossil fuels. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Danish authorities ordered Ørsted to continue or resume operation of three coal- and oil-fired power plants to secure the nation’s electricity supply. As a result, Ørsted was unable to reach its goal of generating 95% of its energy from renewable sources by 2023.
When
Ørsted has about 12 GW of offshore wind capacity installed or under construction. To meet its goal of 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030, the company plans to install 2 GW of new capacity annually until 2025 and 3 GW of new capacity annually between 2025 and 2030.
A pipeline of offshore wind projects in Europe, the US, and the Asia-Pacific region will help Ørsted meet its targets. In addition to Hornsea 3, Ørsted is helping develop a series of gigawatt-scale offshore wind farms in Poland, which are expected online in the mid-2020s. In the US, Ørsted is constructing New York’s first offshore wind farm, which is on track to begin producing power later this year. In Taiwan, the company is building a series of offshore wind farms over the coming years. Once complete, these Taiwanese projects will collectively represent nearly 2 GW of capacity.
Next steps
Through partnerships with other energy developers, Ørsted is taking its first steps toward constructing floating offshore wind turbines, an early-stage technology that could one day allow the industry to move into much deeper waters, including those off the US West Coast.
The company is also making significant investments in the nascent green-fuels market. Renewably generated hydrogen and other “e-fuels” could help green the fossil fuel-intensive shipping industry, which accounted for nearly 3% of global emissions in 2018. Last year, Ørsted signed a letter of intent to supply the shipping giant Maersk with 300,000 tons of e-methanol a year for a future fleet of low-carbon vessels.