Ørsted has announced it will ‘discontinue’ the 2.4GW Hornsea 4 offshore wind project in the UK ‘in its current form’.
The company said that since it was awarded a Contract for Difference (CfD) in allocation round 6 (AR6) in September 2024, there had been adverse developments relating to continued increase of supply chain costs, higher interest rates, and an increase in the risk to construct and operate Hornsea 4 on the planned timeline for a project of this scale.
These effects have “increased the execution risk and deteriorated the value creation of the project”, so Ørsted has stopped spending and terminate dthe project’s supply chain contracts.
Ørsted said it will evaluate options for future development of the Hornsea 4 project given the continuing seabed rights, grid connection agreement and Development Consent Order.

Rasmus Errboe, Group President and CEO of Ørsted, says: ”We remain fully committed to being an important partner to the UK government to help them achieve their ambitious target for offshore wind build-out and appreciate the work they’ve done to deliver a clear framework to support offshore wind. However, our capital allocation is based on a strict and value-focused approach, and after careful consideration, we’ve decided to discontinue the development of the Hornsea 4 project in its current form, well ahead of the planned Final Investment Decision later this year.”
He added, “The adverse macroeconomic developments, continued supply chain challenges, and increased execution, market and operational risks have eroded the value creation.”
He also said, “I’d like to emphasise that Ørsted continues to firmly believe in the long-term fundamentals of and value perspectives for offshore wind in the UK. We’ll keep the project rights for the Hornsea 4 project in our development portfolio, and we’ll seek to develop the project later in a way that is more value-creating for us and our shareholders.”

Ørsted expects to incur break-away costs of DKK 3.5 to 4.5 billion in 2025. The EBITDA impact is expected to be DKK 3.0 to 3.5 billion, this includes a write-down of the offshore transmission assets and a provision for contract cancellation fees (not part of guided EBITDA). In addition, capitalised construction costs of approx. DKK 0.5 to 1.0 billion will be written down (impact below EBITDA).