Already European market leader with 2 gigawatt of offshore wind power installed in Denmark, Britain and Germany, DONG wants to more than triple that to 6.5 gigawatt by 2020. One gigawatt provides electricity for nearly one million households.

"We see significant growth in offshore wind in the next 10-plus years and we are well-positioned to tap into that," Chief Executive Henrik Poulsen told Reuters in a telephone interview.

He said in future 50 percent of DONG's investments will go towards offshore wind and 40 percent to oil and gas exploration and production in the seas around Denmark, DONG's traditional business.

But the state-controlled utility, the dominant power supplier in Danish homes and businesses, plans no further commitment to liquefied natural gas (LNG), gas storage, onshore wind, hydro power, gas-fired and waste-fired power plants and electric vehicles.

Another 10 percent of investments will go towards its power plants, grid and retail business while in coming years, DONG will invest 3-3.5 billion crowns in the conversion of its Danish power stations from fossil fuels to wood pellets and wood chips.

Poulsen's plan to focus wholly on offshore wind is in contrast to other major utilities which have chosen to spin off separate units to pursue renewable power generation, such as EDP Renewables (>> EDP RENOVAVEIS), the subsidiary of Portugal's EDP (>> EDP), and Enel Green (>> Enel Green Power SpA), controlled by Italy's Enel (>> Enel S.p.A.).

SELL-OFFS

Poulsen, who became CEO in August 2012, is restructuring heavily to fund the new focus and drive up the share of total output from renewables, which stood at 30 percent in 2012, according to company documents.

At the announcement of 2012 results in February, he said DONG planned to divest 10 billion Danish crowns ($1.80 billion) of non-core assets in 2013-14, cut costs by 1.2 billion and raise 6-8 billion crowns of new equity.

Six months later, DONG has sold more than 8 billion crowns ($1.4 billion) worth of assets, including Danish, Polish, and Norwegian onshore wind projects and a Norwegian power station.

On Tuesday, DONG said it would cut 350-400 jobs in coming weeks, after announcing 550 job cuts in November, which leaves DONG with close to 7,000 staff.

Poulsen said that a plan to raise equity this year from new or existing shareholders would be "in place in 2014 at the latest."

DONG - Dansk Olie og Naturgas - was founded in 1972 and merged with five other Danish energy and utilities firms in 2006.

It is 80 percent owned by the state, 11 percent by consumer-owned energy group SEAS-NVE and 9 percent by public utilities and municipalities.

STRUGGLING

Like most European utilities, DONG is struggling with falling power demand, low CO2 prices and high debt.

Its 36 billion crown debt is rated BBB+, three notches above junk, and is on negative outlook with Standard and Poor's and Fitch.

Poulsen said that, despite the harsh environment for European utilities, DONG's push into offshore will succeed because of its experience building wind farms at sea and its knowledge of the supply chain.

The main suppliers of offshore turbines in Europe are Germany's Siemens (>> Siemens AG) and Denmark's Vestas (>> Vestas Wind Systems A/S).

Poulsen added DONG's partnership model allows it to spread the risk - it has an ownership share of 1.4 gigawatt of its 2 GW installed capacity. In July, DONG and partners opened the 630 megawatt London Array, the world's largest.

In the UK, DONG also works with utility Centrica (>> Centrica PLC) and in France it is part of an offshore wind consortium led by EDF (>> EDF) and Alstom (>> ALSTOM).

DONG's competitors include EDP Renewables, Spain's Iberdrola (>> Iberdrola SA) and Germany's RWE (>> RWE AG) in an industry that still depends strongly on state subsidies.

"It is an industry in a maturing phase and while we work hard to bring the cost down, over the next years there will be a need for subsidies," Poulsen said. ($1 = 5.5546 Danish crowns)

(Editing by David Cowell)

By Geert De Clercq