COPENHAGEN, Jan 20 Reuters Shares in Danish energy company Orsted tumbled by more than 7 on Friday after announcing a writedown on a large U.S. offshore wind project and an earnings forecast for 2023 that fell short of analyst estimates.

Despite rising demand for green energy, dark clouds are gathering over the offshore wind power industry as rising interest rates and cost inflation begin to hit corporate earnings, potentially forcing energy companies to renegotiate energy supply contracts.

Late on Thursday Orsted, the world39;s biggest offshore wind farm developer, announced a 2.5 billion Danish crown 366 million writedown on its Sunrise Wind project off the coast of New York, citing changes to its earnings projections.

Earnings at the prices it had agreed will be squeezed by the significant inflationary pressures and higher interest rates now faced across the sector.

The project is due to become fully operational in 2025.

Chief executive Mads Nipper told reporters on Friday that the price for power produced at Sunrise was agreed several years ago when there was a totally different expectation for the market outlook.

Orsted expects 2023 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation EBITDA excluding new partnerships of 2023 billion crowns, short of the 24.2 billion crowns expected by analysts in a companycompiled consensus.

The company said its guidance assumes significantly higher earnings from its offshore business, while earnings from its onshore…