- Orsted flags higher costs at US offshore wind project
- Harris supports offshore wind; Trump has vowed to scrap projects
- Orsted's Q3 operating profit fell 14%
COPENHAGEN, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Demand for green power in the United States will grow regardless of who ends up in the White House, renewable energy group Orsted said on Tuesday, even as it flagged construction problems and higher costs at a large U.S. offshore wind project.
The nascent U.S. offshore wind industry has been roiled by cancelled projects, shelved lease sales and a construction accident at the country's first major offshore wind project.
Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris has championed ambitious offshore wind targets as part of President Joe Biden's administration.
She is in a tight race with Republican candidate Donald Trump, who has vowed to scrap offshore wind projects through an executive order on his first day in office if he retakes the White House, claiming wind turbines ruin the environment and kill birds and whales.
"We see many - both corporates and states - having an increased demand from reshoring of industries and from the tech industry," Orsted CEO Mads Nipper told journalists on Tuesday.
"We see it as an 'all boats rise' situation where all energy sources, not least for electricity, are needed no matter who ends up in the White House."
Orsted, the world's biggest offshore wind farm developer, last year booked massive impairments for cancelled U.S. offshore projects due to rising inflation, higher interest rates and supply chain delays.
"It's an industry being built from scratch and it is being very strongly supported by not least the northeastern states, where the alternatives for energy supply and especially green energy supply are difficult," Nipper said.
Orsted said scarce installation vessels and problems with installing an offshore substation at the 704 megawatt (MW) Revolution Wind project attributed to costs rising by another 1.7 billion Danish crowns ($248 million) in the third quarter.
Group operating profit fell 14% to 4.44 billion crowns in the quarter. Analysts had on average forecast 4.61 billion in a company-provided poll.
Profits were helped by a reversal of some of the losses Orsted booked last year in the United States.
Its shares were up 0.7% at 1029 GMT. They have risen 12% this year but are down more than a third from their peak in early 2021.
($1 = 6.8472 Danish crowns)
Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Louise Rasmussen and Mark Potter
Source: Reuters