Orsted’s acquisition of Deepwater Wind, a move designed to strengthen the company’s position in the U.S. offshore wind market, is positive from a business risk perspective but will have a negative impact on Orsted’s leverage, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

In its analysis of last week’s $510 million deal, Moody’s noted Orsted earlier this month also acquired Lincoln Clean Energy LLC, a U.S.-based developer, owner and operator of onshore wind farms for $580 million. The acquisitions help Orsted in the United States, where it has competed for a contract in Massachusetts, and enable the company to diversify its renewable energy portfolio outside of Europe.

The deals also boost spending, a development that will be somewhat offset by Orsted’s recent divestment from the sale of its 50 percent stake in Hornsea 1, a North Sea project off the Yorkshire coast that will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm when commissioned in 2020.

Noting Deepwater’s success in the U.S. offshore wind market and Orsted’s pipeline of projects – Orsed has so far not secured any revenue contracts in the U.S. – Moody’s concluded “the transaction significantly increases the scale of the company’s potential expansion in the US market.”

Vineyard Wind, after being selected this year by state and utility officials in Massachusetts, is seeking to build the first large-scale offshore wind energy project in the nation, to be located 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard.