Wind giants welcome profit beats as war in Iran spurs energy pivot

The Iran war appears to have accelerated the clean energy transition, providing a catalyst for wind energy giants as countries reassess the role of renewables in supporting energy security.

Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas reported It posted an unexpectedly big first-quarter profit increase on Wednesday, citing better execution of its onshore and offshore businesses despite growing political uncertainty.

Danish utility Orsted also sent While Norway made a stronger-than-expected profit in the first three months of the year EkinorThe Middle East crisis will boost returns for its clean-tech division, it told CNBC, which is primarily an oil and gas company.

Torgrim Reitan, Equinor’s chief financial officer, said the driving forces behind the energy transition had clearly changed amid the Iran war, shifting from a focus on decarbonisation to issues such as energy security, self-sufficiency and independence.

“We’re clearly seeing a lot of momentum behind this in Europe,” Reitan told CNBC’s “Europe Early Edition.”

Equinor, which reported its strongest quarterly profit in three years on Wednesday, has three major offshore wind facilities in the US, Poland and the UK; The latter will be the largest offshore wind farm in the world when it comes into production.

The oil and gas giant has teamed up with its industry rivals to post impressive first-quarter results, taking advantage of rising fossil fuel prices since February 28, when the war against Iran began under the leadership of the United States and Israel.

Analysts expect the effects of the war energy shock in Iran to encourage countries to invest more in clean energy sources; This trend is likely to benefit companies with exposure to green technology.

“Our priority is to deliver the projects that are in development, and beyond that, obviously we’ll need to see a significant return on investment from this business — but we believe what’s going on right now will actually help returns in some sort of transition industries,” Equinor’s Reitan said. he said.

Denmark’s Orsted noted that events in the Middle East reaffirm the need to accelerate Europe’s energy transition, emphasizing the role of offshore wind in particular as a key component in this shift.

“Looking at what’s happening around the world, there’s no reason not to shift gears in the transition to renewable energy in Europe. Europe spends billions of dollars every week on fossil fuel imports – but it doesn’t have to be this way,” Orsted CEO Rasmus Errboe said in a statement.

“Offshore wind and other renewable energy sources can provide safe, green energy and, when deployed at scale, significantly reduce total system costs for households and businesses,” he added.

Orsted, which has struggled with rising costs and supply chain disruptions in recent years, has doubled down on business in Europe following White House resistance to U.S. wind power.

US President Donald Trump He has a long history of mocking wind energy, claiming wind turbines destroy land and lose money while taking aim at the European Union’s energy policy at the World Economic Forum earlier this year.

“We’re probably in a much better place than we expected to be a few months ago,” Andersen told CNBC.Squawk Box Europe” before trying to highlight the benefits of electrifying the grid.