EDP Renewables’ Ocean Winds subsidiary has booked a €133m impairment for its US offshore business.
The impairment assumes a four-year delay for the 2.4GW SouthCoast Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts.
EDPR CEO Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade said that the possible delay is a “worst case scenario”, and is based on uncertainty about what the administration of President Donald Trump will do with reviews of existing offshore wind permits.
US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management approved the project’s construction and operations plan in the final days of the Biden administration, marking the final federal approval for the project.
The developer said in its 27 February annual results report that that the impairment is “due to current uncertainty surrounding US offshore projects following the presidential executive orders issued on January 20th” when Trump moved to put an indefinite pause on federal permitting for offshore wind projects.
EDP Renewables Chief Financial Officer Rui Texeira said on an earnings call that Ocean Winds conducted an analysis of possible delays resulting from Trump’s executive orders, and the offshore subsidiary decided to book the impairment as a “precautionary” measure.
The states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island collaborated to select 1287MW for procurement of the overall 2.4GW SouthCoast Wind project, though the finalization of the contracts has been delayed since January.
Stilwell d’Andrade told analysts that the project is still “ready to go” with a power purchase agreement that is “ready to sign” with an attractive price.