One of the largest wind farm developers in the UK has paid more than half a billion dollars for a slice of the booming US wind power market.

Denmark’s Orsted, formerly known as Dong Energy, has been actively hunting out long-term opportunities in the US to complement its record-breaking offshore developments in UK waters.

It used its better-than-expected first-half financial results to announce plans to pay $580m (£450m) for Chicago-based onshore wind farm developer Lincoln Clean Energy.

Orsted’s profits for the first six months of the year climbed to DKK8.6bn (£1.04bn), 4pc higher than analyst expectations, despite lower wind speeds across the UK in recent months.

Chief executive Henrik Poulsen said the UK’s rising energy prices helped to offset the sluggish wind speeds. The calmer conditions also aided the company's efforts in constructing the Race Bank and Walney Extension offshore projects, which are starting up at a lower cost and “well ahead of schedule”.

Mr Poulsen said the company was also on track to sell off a 50pc stake in its Hornsea 1 offshore wind project in the North Sea in the coming months.