The Danish government is coming up with a capital injection for renewable energy company Ørsted, the world’s largest offshore wind developer, after problems in the US offshore wind market have put pressure on its finances.

The Danish state is the majority 50.1% shareholder, and it has agreed to fully subscribe to its share of the planned 60 billion Danish krone ( US$9.6 billion ) rights issue. Any shares not subscribed for by other shareholders are fully underwritten by Morgan Stanley.

The proceeds will be used to strengthen its capital structure and provide financial flexibility to ensure an appropriate capitalization in the years 2025 through 2027, Ørsted notes, during which the company will deliver its 8.1-gigawatt offshore wind construction portfolio. It will also cover the incremental funding requirements from the full ownership of the Sunrise Wind offshore project.

Following adverse developments in the US offshore wind market, it has not been possible for Ørsted to complete the planned partial divestment and associated non-recourse project financing of its Sunrise Wind project on acceptable terms. The process of looking for a buyer is being discontinued.

The absence of proceeds from the partial divestment of Sunrise Wind and the associated project financing means that Ørsted is required to fund the construction of the entire project on its balance sheet, which leads to an incremental funding requirement of approximately 40 billion krone.

The company grew rapidly as countries around the world raced ahead with renewable energy programmes, but has been hit hard by changing investor sentiment, as well as the pushback on green energy by US President Donald Trump.

Earlier this year, the company announced that it had launched a sales process for a potential full divestment of its European onshore business. It expects to raise more than 35 billion krone in proceeds from divestments during 2025-2026.

The company continues to progress the previously announced farm-down processes for its Changhua 2 and Hornsea 3 offshore wind farms.