Ørsted group president and chief executive Mads Nipper says the offshore wind developer and green energy company made a strong start to 2022
Reporting details of the company’s interim financial report for the first three months of 2022, Mr Nipper said, “I am very pleased with our start to the year. We managed to achieve strong operational and financial results and continued strategic progress in the first quarter of 2022. We reported EBITDA of Dkr9.4Bn (US$1.3Bn), almost twice the figure compared with the same period last year.”
Mr Nipper said what he described as “very high power prices” had a significant effect on the company’s results, positively affecting some areas of the company’s business and negatively affecting others.
“We successfully achieved first power at Greater Changhua 1 & 2a in Taiwan and the windfarm is on track to be commissioned during H2 2022,” said Mr Nipper.
“At Hornsea 2, the largest offshore windfarm in the world, we installed all of the foundations, array cables and wind turbines. However, commissioning of the individual wind turbines has been progressing more slowly and the ramp-up profile has been delayed compared to our expectations at year-end. We are now electrifying and waiting for all of the wind turbines to pass final tests before commissioning the windfarm.”
In March 2022, Ørsted signed a landmark green fuels letter of intent with Maersk to develop an e-methanol facility on the US Gulf Coast with the aim to fuel Maersk’s newly ordered fleet of 12 methanol-powered vessels. With a capacity of 300,000 /year, it is expected to be the largest e-methanol facility in the world when commissioned.
In Q1 2022, the company signed an agreement to farm-down 50% of Hornsea 2 in the UK and completed the 50% farm-down of Borkum Riffgrund 3 in Germany. “These key partnerships are a strong testament to the attractiveness of our offshore assets, and we look forward to working together with our partners on these projects,” Mr Nipper said.
Ørsted also signed an agreement with Repsol to jointly identify and develop floating offshore wind projects in Spain. This marks the company’s first entry into the Spanish market, following the Spanish Government’s announcement that it wants to install up to 3 GW of floating offshore wind by 2030.
The Offshore Wind Journal Conference will be held 14 June 2022. Details and tickets can be found here
