Shares of wind energy titan Orsted plummeted more than 16% on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange Monday after the Trump administration late Friday issued a "stop-work order" for the company's Revolution Wind Project off the Rhode Island coast. Orsted reports the project is already 80% complete. Meanwhile, solar stocks moved higher.
The Denmark-based wind power giant said in a press release Friday it will comply with the U.S. directive after the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management stated the company must stop work on the offshore wind project. Orsted reports that 45 out of 65 wind turbines have been installed.
The company also said it is considering options to continue moving ahead with construction through the second half of 2026. Orsted is in the midst of a capital raising effort. Earlier in August it announced plans for a $9.4 billion rights issue.
The Trump administration's decision to halt the Orsted wind project follow's President Donald Trump claims on Truth Social on Wednesday that states heavily invested in wind power and solar energy are seeing "record-breaking increases in electricity and energy costs."
Trump added last week that it is "the scam of the century" and that "we will not approve wind or farmer destroying Solar."
In May, Norway-based Equinor resumed construction of its wind project in New York after Trump lifted its earlier stop work order amid a compromise to revive a previously canceled natural gas pipeline project through the state.
Friday's move against Orsted's Rhode Island project also comes as Trump in recent days has negotiated an $8.9 billion investment Intel (INTC) common stock after ratcheting up the pressure on the chipmaker. The equity stake will be funded by $5.7 billion in grants that had been awarded to Intel but not yet paid.
The Trump White House employed similar tactics with Nvidia (NVDA), prohibiting the company from selling chips to China. On Aug. 6, President Trump and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang agreed that Nvidia could sell the chips, but that it would pay the government 15% of its H2O China chip sales.
Trump fashioned a similar deal with AMD (AMD), in regard to sales to China of its MI301 chip.
Subsequently, the White House and Nvidia are reportedly negotiating an arrangement for what Huang has described as Nvidia's more advanced follow-on to the H2O chip.
While Orsted stock dropped early Monday, U.S. solar stocks continue to perform.
The 27 stocks in the IBD-tracked Energy-Solar industry group have collectively advanced nearly 17% during August's stock market trade, including a 4.8% collective gain last week.
Solar stocks broadly advanced on Aug. 15 after the Department of the Treasury released guidance which made clear that wind and solar projects can qualify for federal tax credits if they have either begun "physical work" or a 5% investment in projects by July 2026. Since the guidance was announced, the 27 stocks have collectively gained 17%.
Heading into Monday's stock market session, residential solar installer Sunrun (RUN) had soared nearly 58% during this month's stock market, on track for a fifth straight monthly advance.
Sunrun broke out on Aug. 15 from a sloppy three-month consolidation, rallying 16.4% to 16.20 last week.
Solar-tracker provider NextTracker (NXT) has climbed 19% this month and is currently in a buy zone, slightly above, a traditional 67.87 buy point, according to MarketSurge charts.
Meanwhile, Array Technologies (ARRY) has moved 39.5% higher during August's stock market. The solar stock is extended from a traditional 8.19 buy point from a double-bottom base.
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Israel-based solar panel inverter manufacturer SolarEdge Technologies (SEDG) hit its highest level since June 2024 last week, reaching 34.36 on Friday. SEDG stock is on its way to notching a fourth consecutive monthly gain and has a year-to-date gain of 152%.
First Solar (FSLR), which manufactures and sells residential and commercial solar panels, is up 15.8% in this month's stock market. Similar to SolarEdge, First Solar is on pace for a for a fourth straight monthly advance. FSLR stock has gained 60% since the end of April and is up 15% for the year. First Solar reclaimed a cup-with-handle buy point of 189.50 on Aug. 15.
Investors can keep tabs on the IBD Leaderboard watchlist, the IBD 50 list of top growth stocks and IBD SwingTrader along with the IBD Sector Leaders list.
Please follow Kit Norton on X @KitNorton for more coverage.
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