Renewables shares jump as US reverses stop-work order for offshore New York project
Published: 11:16 20 May 2025 BST
Shares in European renewables companies jumped on Tuesday after US authorities lifted a controversial stop-work order for the Empire Wind wind project offshore New York.
Last month, Norwegian energy giant Equinor, the developer of the Empire protect, said it was considering legal action after receiving a halt work order from the Trump administration in mid-April, despite it being fully permitted and under construction.
Late on Monday, Equinor said the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management had lifted its block on the development order.
Analysts at Denmark’s Sydbank said: "In our opinion, this significantly reduces the risk of a similar stop-work order on Orsted's Sunrise Wind project and thus also reduces the risk of a large billion-kroner write-down at Orsted."
While Equinor shares were little moved, Danish renewables giant Orsted saw its shares jump 15% on Tuesday.
Vestas Wind Systems and Spanish renewables generator Solaria up 5%.
The Empire Wind development, situated approximately 15 to 30 miles off the coast of New York's Long Island, could deliver power to half a million New York homes, is about 30% complete and carries a gross book value of US$2.5 billion.
