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Ørsted boosted both its operating profit and net profit in the first half of the year and retained its full-year guidance for 2021.

However, due to issues with cable protection systems and significantly lower wind speeds across its entire offshore wind portfolio, the Danish developer expects full-year Ebitda to be in the lower end of its DKK 15-16 billion (€2.01-2.15 billion) guided range.

It recorded Ebitda for the first half of 2021 of DKK 13.1 billion – up 34% year on year. This increase was driven by the gain of DKK 5.4 billion after selling a 50% stake in the Dutch offshore wind farm, 752MW Borssele I & II .

The growth came despite earnings from its operational offshore and onshore wind farms falling 3% to DKK 7.9 billion in the first half of the year. The increased generation capacity from its wind farms was more than offset by significantly lower wind speeds across Ørsted’s portfolio, the developer explained.

It was also hit by several negative impacts in the UK, including higher than expected charges for using the transmission network — known as TNUoS tariffs and designed to recover the cost of installing and maintaining the country's transmission system —  due to Ørsted boosting its UK wind portfolio; lower earnings from 209MW Horns Rev 2 as a result of the subsidy period ending in October 2020.

Ørsted’s earnings from existing partnerships were also down in the first half of the year. In H1 2020, this figure had been boosted by high earnings from construction agreements related to the 1218MW Hornsea Project One offshore wind farm, while H1 20221 was negatively impacted by a warranty provision related to cable protection system issues at some of its offshore wind farms.

Earnings from bioenergy and other businesses were in line with those from last year.

Ørsted recorded a net profit of DKK 7.1 billion in the first half of 2021, up from DKK 2.5 billion one year earlier. This was primarily driven by the stake sale in Borssele 1 & 2.

Ørsted has maintained its full-year Ebitda guidance of DKK 15-16 billion. However, due to wind speeds being significantly lower than normal across its entire offshore wind portfolio and the warranty provisions for cable protection systems, it expects this to be in the lower end of the guided range.

The company has raised its full-year gross investment guidance from DKK 32-34 billion to DKK 39-41 billion, following the completion of a deal to acquire Brookfield Renewables Irelands’s onshore wind and solar portfolio in June and due to the expected acquisition of the 302MW Lincoln Land Wind project in the US later this year.