National Grid takes £300m hit from paused US wind farm

In an announcement issued alongside the firm’s annual results, the company said this had led to it booking a £303m impairment charge on the project.

National Grid said the decision to pause the project had been made “in line with the broader slowdown of the US offshore wind industry”.

This comes after President Donald Trump’s first day in office saw him sign an executive order to pause all leasing of federal waters for offshore wind projects.

The Trump administration also paused all new or renewed approvals for wind projects on federal land until the completion of a comprehensive review.

National Grid operates the UK’s electricity network, as well as managing a number of gas and electricity businesses in the US.

In its latest results, earnings at National Grid came in ahead of forecasts despite the firm’s chief executive warning of a “time of international economic uncertainty”.

The company reported underlying operating profit of £5.36bn for the year ending 31 March, up 12 per cent on last year and above analysts’ forecasts of £5.29bn. Underlying earnings per share also came in at 73.3p, up two per cent and above average forecasts of 72.3p.

John Pettigrew, chief executive of National Grid, said: “At a time of international economic uncertainty, National Grid continues to provide stable and predictable growth through our resilient business model.

“We remain focused on delivering secure, affordable and clean energy to our customers and communities, and providing long-term value and returns for our shareholders."

National Grid also announced in its latest results that it was on track to deliver its planned £60bn of investment by 2029. It came as the company announced that it had also invested £10bn over the last year.

Mr Pettigrew added: "We've made significant progress in the first year of our five-year financial framework, with record capital investment of almost £10bn, 20 per cent higher than 2024, helping to drive regulated asset growth of around 10 per cent this year.

“Strong performance across all areas of the business underpins our plans to successfully invest circa £60bn over five years.”

The results come as Mr Pettigrew, who has spent almost ten years in the role of chief executive at National Grid, is set to step down in November. He will be preceded by Zoë Yujnovich, who joins National Grid from Shell.