Wind giants GE, Vestas and Siemens Gamesa racked up losses last year on the back of rising maintenance costs, Renew Economy Australia reports. Warranty provisions — compounded by supply chain risks, rising inflation and reduced power installations — dipped into the revenues of the wind behemoths, with forecasts for the coming year expected to fall short as well.

Offshore and onshore wind losses: GE reported that its renewable energy business GE Vernova had racked up losses of USD 2.2 bn in 2022, largely due to warranty provisions from its wind division. The company forecast it would record an additional USD 200-600 mn in losses this year from the division. Similarly, Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas reported revenues of just under EUR 14.5 mn last year — compared to an outlook of EUR 14.5-15.5 bn. Vestas also saw wind turbine orders in GW decline by 19%. Wind turbine manufacturer Siemens Gamesa recorded a quarterly loss of EUR 884 mn at the end of last year, despite increased growth.

Failures and repairs are costing the wind giants: Siemens Gamesa reported additional costs due to “failures and repairs of components” in legacy onshore wind turbines with warranty provisioning leading to a net loss of EUR 940 mn. Similarly, Vestas reported warranty provisions as a continued problem for the company for the twelfth consecutive quarter with longstanding problems with repairs and upgrades to its blades contributing to a lack of profitability. In the US, GE has reported that supply disruptions, rising metal prices as well as the war in Ukraine have made it difficult to turn a profit.

MENA renewables giants are still expanding wind portfolios regardless: Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power is aggressively expanding, growing their renewables portfolio to 58 GW from 1 GW in less than a decade — including a 10 GW wind project in Egypt, positioned to be one of the world’s largest wind farms. Emirati renewables giant Masdar is building Asia’s largest wind farm — a 500 MW facility — in Uzbekistan.

And they’re targeting western acquisitions: Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund acquired a 9.5% stake in German offshore wind developer and operator Skyborn Renewables in December. Handelsblatt (German) reported that Siemens Energy could get a potential investment from Qatar Investment Authority ahead of its full acquisition of Siemens Gamesa. Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company acquired an undisclosed stake in Skyborn last October, in addition to US offshore project Bluepoint Wind.