Siemens Gamesa Uncovers Deep Flaws in Legacy Wind Turbine Fleet - The Maritime Executive
Siemens Gamesa Uncovers Deep Flaws in Legacy Wind Turbine Fleet
The firm is the largest offshore wind turbine builder in the world, but the problems are concentrated in onshore models
Wind turbine builder Siemens Gamesa has warned previously that it faces large costs in connection with durability issues in its legacy fleet, but the exposure looks to be a lot larger than expected, the company warned on Friday. A thorough review has discovered a "substantial increase in failure rates of wind turbine components," and efforts to determine the depth of the problem continue.
"The result of the current review will be much worse than even I would have thought possible. The quality problems go well beyond what had been known hitherto, in particular in onshore," said Siemens Gamesa CEO Jochen Eickholt at a press conference Friday. "We are tackling the topic but it is time consuming and it comes at a cost."
The firm's Spanish (Gamesa) unit has discovered significant problems with rotor blades and bearings in some of its onshore turbine models, and there are issues facing older "legacy" installations as well, the firm said. The scope extends to 15-30 percent of the company's total installed fleet, according to Reuters.
The sweeping scope of the problem is coming into view just as parent company Siemens Energy is preaparing to acquire 100 percent of Siemens Gamesa, inheriting the full extent of its financial exposure. Siemens Energy has suspended its profit guidance, noting the possibility of more than $1 billion in extra costs. Shares in Siemens Energy plunged 37 percent in trading on Friday.
The legacy problems at Siemens Gamesa come just as it is ramping up to produce a new generation of ultra-large offshore wind turbines, built around its gearless direct drive technology. Its new 14 MW turbine is one of the biggest ever built, and it will be manufactured at scale to supply projects like East Anglia 3, one of the biggest wind farms in the world. Siemens Gamesa is by far the largest builder of offshore turbines, holding a 60 percent share of the non-Chinese global market.
Among renewable-power advocates and developers, the main concern is that the maintenance troubles at Siemens Gamesa could exacerbate the already-serious supply chain and inflation issues facing wind farm developers. If the manufacturer reorients part of its workforce and capital towards repairing past errors, it may have less horsepower available to drive its other product lines, which are sorely needed for the green transition.
"Even though it should be clear to everyone, I would like to emphasize again how bitter this is for all of us," said Eickholt at the press conference.
Related Knowledge Center: Offshore wind energy
Over the next decade, U.S. offshore wind power is expected to grow from a single 30-megawatt wind farm off Rhode Island to more than 2,000 MW of capacity along the Atlantic Seaboard. There are contracts for wind power off the coasts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated the United States has over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential, enough to power the country four times over.
The growth in part being spurred by state solicitations, including in New York, where then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) set a commitment of 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, and in Connecticut, where in June 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed legislation authorizing the construction of 2,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030.
The offshore development is also being driven by an investment tax credit set to end in December 2019 and is equal to 12 percent of expenditures. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) have introduced a bill to extend the tax credit for up to eight years.
The Interior Department has held eight competitive lease sales that resulted in 15 offshore wind leases over 1.7 million acres that has the potential for 21 GW of capacity. In February 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a bidding process that realized $4.37 billion for 488,000 acres across six lease areas in federal waters off New York and New Jersey.
Projects have also been proposed off the Southeast coast, off California and Hawaii, and for the Great Lakes.