Trump administration halts Orsted’s Rhode Island wind project, shares sink 17%

Orsted said on Monday it would continue with a plan to raise capital after the Trump administration ordered the offshore wind farm developer to stop construction on a near-completed project off Rhode Island, sending its shares down 17%.
The company, 50.1% owned by the Danish state, said earlier this month it would seek to shore up its finances through a $9.4 billion emergency rights issue.
“The planned rights issue had been sized to provide the required strengthening of Orsted’s capital structure to execute its business plan, even when taking into account the impact of this uncertainty on Orsted’s U.S. offshore wind portfolio,” it said in a statement.
The Trump administration’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management published its stop-work order late on Friday, forcing suspension of a project that was 80% complete with 45 out of 65 wind turbines installed.