Ørsted changes CFO, COO in rough times for wind projects

In the wake of the troubles with its offshore wind projects, Ørsted A/S (CPH:ORSTED) is parting ways with its chief financial and chief operating officers.

The Danish clean energy group said today that, by mutual agreement, Daniel Lerup, chief financial officer (CFO), and Richard Hunter, chief operating officer (COO), are stepping down with immediate effect.

“Ørsted, along with the rest of the industry, is experiencing a challenging and volatile business environment. Therefore, the Board of Directors and I have agreed with our current CFO and COO that we need new and different capabilities to lead the Finance and EPC & Operations functions to strengthen Ørsted’s journey into the future,” stated chief executive Mads Nipper.

Ørsted has started a search for candidates to fill in the two positions. In the meantime, Rasmus Errboe, chief executive of Region Europe and executive vice president at Ørsted, will assume the role of interim CFO, helping to lead the work on supporting the company’s capital structure and long-term commitment to its credit rating.

Andrew Brown, member of Ørsted’s board of directors, will be the interim COO. Brown has executive experience in large global organisations like Shell and most recently as chief executive of Portuguese sector player Galp, the company noted.

Ørsted recently scrapped the development of its Ocean Wind 1 and 2 offshore wind projects in New Jersey and booked large impairments. S&P Global Ratings subsequently placed Ørsted on credit watch negative and Fitch Ratings changed the company’s outlook to negative.

David Hardy, chief executive of the Americas Region at Ørsted, explained in a LinkedIn post that there was no other option for the New Jersey projects.

“We are extremely disappointed to have to take this decision, but faced with macroeconomic factors of high inflation, rising interest rates, and supply chain bottlenecks, including a critical installation vessel delay for Ocean Wind 1, we had no choice but to cease development of the projects awarded to us by the NJ BPU [New Jersey Board of Public Utilities],” Hardy said.

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