Ørsted slashes headcount by 25%

“The reasons for this are that the company will be focusing more on offshore wind and Europe, that a number of offshore wind farms will be finalised in the coming years, and that the company needs to improve its competitiveness,” a company statement said.

“At the same time, we want to create a more efficient and flexible organisation and a more competitive Ørsted, ready to bid on new value-accretive offshore wind projects,” said CEO Rasmus Errboe.

In May, Ørsted blamed economic forces for pulling the plug on Hornsea 4, a development of 180 wind turbines across an area of almost 500km² in the UK, while keeping the rights in its development portfolio. That followed an announcement that it would cut spending on offshore wind by 25%, even though at the WindEurope conference in April it called on Europe to install 10GW a year, despite panellists voicing concerns over a range of issues that would make this a tricky task.

”Ørsted currently employs around 8,000 people globally, which matches the current high level of activity, but by the end of 2027, we expect to have a workforce of around 6,000 employees, the company now says. ”The rightsizing of the organisation will happen through natural attrition, a reduction of positions, divestment, outsourcing, and redundancies. As part of this, Ørsted has announced that it will be making approx. 500 employees redundant in Q4 2025, including approx. 235 in Denmark. Towards the end of 2027, the organisation will be rightsized in parallel with the decline in construction activities.”

The remaining positions will go by the end of 2027, it said.

“We’re fully committed to finalising our 8.1 GW construction portfolio across 3 continents – Ørsted’s largest to date. At the same time, we’re building a more financially robust and competitive company with solid earnings, which will increase as we complete our projects. Once we’ve achieved this, Ørsted will be a significantly stronger, more focused and competitive company. And amongst others, we’ll have our skilled employees to thank for this,” said Errboe.