PROVIDENCE – Orsted A/S, the developer behind Revolution Wind, the 704-megawatt offshore wind project off the coast of Rhode Island, plans to cut 20% of its global workforce – roughly 1,600 jobs out of 8,000 employees, according to Danish newspaper Berlingske
.
The layoffs, which reportedly stem from a slowdown in new project development for the Danish energy firm, will occur before the end of 2025, CEO Rasmus Errboe confirmed to the outlet on a teleconference call with reporters on Tuesday, according to the report.
It was not immediately clear if, or how many of, the layoffs would affect Rhode Island or the Revolution Wind project. Orsted declined comment Tuesday.
The planned layoffs are part of Orsted's broader "rightsizing" strategy amid setbacks in the offshore wind sector, Berlingske reported, and come weeks after the Danish energy company secured an emergency $9.4 billion rights issue to shore up finances on Sept. 5.
Orsted said the capital raise, nearly fully subscribed as of Oct. 6, was crucial to strengthening its finances and covering the full cost of U.S. projects amid regulatory uncertainty.
Among the challenges was a month-long stop-work order on Revolution Wind, issued on Aug. 22 by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and
later overturned by a federal judge on Sept. 22.
U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth called the order “arbitrary and capricious,” allowing construction on the project to resume.
On Sept. 4, Orsted A/S filed complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the stop-work order. Hours later, R.I. Attorney General Peter Neronha and Connecticut Attorney General William Tong filed a federal lawsuit.
Matthew McNulty is a PBN staff writer. He can be reached at McNulty@PBN.com or on X at @MattMcNultyNYC.