Ørsted sets up trading office in the US

Ørsted is expanding rapidly in the US within the development and construction of offshore and onshore wind power as well as solar PV. The growing portfolio enables Ørsted to increasingly trade the green power generated by the wind and solar farms. Therefore, Ørsted is now setting up a trading office in Chicago which will be trading power in the wholesale markets.

"With a trading office in the US, we'll be able to reduce risks and ensure higher transfer prices on the power generated by our solar and onshore wind farms," says Morten Hultberg Buchgreitz, Executive Vice President of Ørsted.

In August 2018, Ørsted acquired Lincoln Clean Energy, thereby obtaining a strong foothold in the US onshore wind power market. Today, the company has 1GW of onshore wind power in operation in the US, 670MW under construction across three states and further 2.5GW of wind and solar projects in the pipeline.

The right processes and new knowledge

The US power markets are complex, and being present and having in-depth knowledge of the markets to secure good power price agreements offer great advantages. Moreover, being a player in the trading market requires the right systems, processes and compliance.

"Our European trading office has competences and volumes that we can transfer to the US markets. And by setting up an office in Chicago, we can also hire employees who have in-depth knowledge of the US power markets," says Morten Hultberg Buchgreitz.

The new Ørsted trading office in Chicago opened in October and expects to start trading power in November. Initially, Ørsted's traders will primarily trade power generated by Lincoln Clean Energy's onshore wind farms.