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Turbulent times for wind: Ørsted to cut workforce by 25% by 2027, while Ming Yang plans to build new UK wind manufacturing hub
22/10/2025
News
Danish wind developer Ørsted has unveiled plans to slash its global workforce by a quarter – some 2,000 jobs – by the end of 2027, as it refocuses on offshore wind projects in Europe and strengthens competitiveness after a turbulent period for the sector. The move, part of a wider restructuring plan, follows political headwinds in the US and cost pressures across global supply chains. Yet optimism in the sector remains, as China’s Ming Yang has announced plans to invest up to £1.5bn in a new Scottish manufacturing hub for the wind sector, potentially creating thousands of jobs.
Some 500 Ørsted employees are to be made redundant before the end of the year, of which 235 will be in Denmark. The remaining cuts from the current 8,000 strong workforce will take place gradually over the following two years through a mix of natural attrition, outsourcing, divestments and further redundancies, announced Chief Executive Rasmus Errboe on 9 October. Ørsted currently employs some 1,200 workers in the UK.
The decision, Errboe said, reflects the company’s transition from an intense construction phase to a more consolidated operational focus. ‘This is a necessary consequence of our decision to focus our business and the fact that we’ll be finalising our large construction portfolio in the coming years – which is why we’ll need fewer employees,’ he 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.’
Ørsted’s current construction pipeline amounts to 8.1 GW across three continents – the company’s largest to date – and includes major projects in the US, the UK and Asia-Pacific.
The job cuts come as Ørsted continues to navigate a turbulent period for offshore wind developers. The company’s share price fell sharply earlier this year after the Trump administration in the US ordered a temporary halt to work on its near-complete Revolution Wind project off Rhode Island, creating fresh uncertainty for investors. Although a US court has since allowed construction to resume, the incident underscored the political and financial risks facing the wind sector.
In response, Ørsted moved to strengthen its balance sheet through a rights issue that raised nearly €8bn. The capital injection will support ongoing projects, including the 924 MW Sunrise Wind development in New York, US, while positioning the company for growth in markets with more stable policy environments, says Ørsted.
Errboe said Ørsted’s strategic reset was designed to ‘maintain our position as a market leader in offshore wind’ while adapting to a shifting energy landscape. ‘We need to ensure that offshore wind becomes a key element of Europe’s future energy mix and green transition,’ he said. ‘[To do that], we must reduce our costs for developing, constructing and operating offshore wind farms.’
The company says that ‘once all efficiency measures have been implemented’ it expects to operate with a leaner, more financially sustainable structure capable of generating annual cost savings of around DKK2bn (approximately €268mn) from 2028.
The restructuring also reflects broader challenges in the global wind sector, where rising inflation, higher interest rates and supply chain bottlenecks have eroded project profitability. Ørsted last year cancelled plans to build Hornsea 4, one of the UK’s largest offshore wind farms, citing escalating costs and a deteriorating investment climate.
The company plans to continue to operate its Danish combined heat and power plants, but says it will prioritise competitive offshore wind projects with clearer returns.
Ming Yang to build UK’s first fully integrated manufacturing facility for offshore wind
On a more positive note, Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Ming Yang has announced that it plans to invest up to £1.5bn on building what it calls the ‘UK’s largest, and first fully integrated, wind turbine manufacturing facility’ for offshore and floating offshore projects. To be located in Scotland, the project is expected to create up to 1,500 new jobs, with a potential 1,500 new jobs in later phases, says the company.
A number of sites in Scotland have been shortlisted, with Ardersier Port near Inverness ‘the current preferred location, enabling the redeployment of those previously employed in the oil and gas sector’.
The project will be developed in three phases:
- Phase 1: Invest up to £750mn to create an advanced manufacturing facility for both wind turbine nacelles and blades, with first production by late 2028.
- Phase 2: Expand the facility and infrastructure to serve the deployment of floating offshore technology at scale in the UK.
- Phase 3: Develop an offshore wind industry ecosystem around the hub, which includes manufacturing of control systems, electronics and other key components.
The wind hub will serve the UK, European and other non-Asian markets.
Ming Yang is the largest privately owned wind turbine manufacturer in China. According to the company it accounted for 31.3% of newly added capacity globally in 2024. Recent developments include the 16.6 MW Ocean X floating wind turbine, which is designed to reduce offshore wind development costs by up to 30% due to its dual-turbine design, lightweight concrete platform and simplified single-point mooring system.
The hub investment plans are still subject to final approvals from the UK government. They form ‘an integral part of a wider pan-European strategy, in which other locations are being explored’, notes Ming Yang.
The news follows Ming Yang’s announcement last month of a strategic partnership with Octopus Energy to cut onshore wind energy costs and reduce bills for UK households. The collaboration plans to use Octopus software to control Ming Yang’s hardware. The partners hope to develop up to 6 GW of clean energy projects identified through Octopus’s ‘Winder’ platform, which ‘connects wind-enthusiastic communities with landowners to locate suitable sites for turbines, delivering energy where it’s needed most while easing stress on the grid’. Initially focused on onshore wind, the partnership will also explore expanding into other energy solutions, including solar power and battery storage systems.