WRAPUP 2-European wind developers play down Siemens Gamesa turbine troubles

Major wind power developers including Iberdrola, RWE and Orsted played down the impact of potential problems with Siemens Gamesa onshore wind turbines. Siemens Gamesa parent Siemens Energy last week said problems with its more recent onshore platforms could affect up to 15-30% of its installed turbines worldwide, triggering a 37% fall in its share price.

Major wind power developers including Iberdrola, RWE and Orsted played down the impact of potential problems with Siemens Gamesa onshore wind turbines.

Siemens Gamesa parent Siemens Energy last week said problems with its more recent onshore platforms could affect up to 15-30% of its installed turbines worldwide, triggering a 37% fall in its share price. It warned that it could cost more than 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) to fix flaws in rotor blades and bearings, which could cause damage ranging from small cracks to component failures.

Siemens Gamesa has provided wind turbines to some of the biggest power companies and oil and gas majors worldwide and has warned the problems could take years to resolve. UBS analysts said that in a worst-case scenario charges for Siemens Energy could exceed 5 billion euros.

Germany's RWE, a long-standing customer, said it had not seen any "unusual technical issues" in its existing wind power portfolio, while French utility EDF said it could solve any issues that arise. Denmark's Orsted said it operates one onshore wind farm with Siemens Energy turbines.

"Orsted's portfolio of wind turbines continuously have high availability rates, reflecting that wind power has very little down-time," a spokesperson said. Meanwhile, Iberdrola will carry out a thorough analysis before installing 11 of Siemens Gamesa's troubled flagship 5X model, a source at the Spanish company said.

Iberdrola has not yet installed the turbines for its onshore wind farm in Spain, and Siemens Gamesa has already told it that it would proceed with a retrofit design, the source said. Iberdrola has not observed any technical issues for its remaining fleet of Siemens Gamesa turbines, the source added.

A spokesperson for Iberdrola confirmed the information. Siemens Energy, which has launched a technical review of the installed onshore fleet and product designs, declined to comment.

OVERBLOWN? Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners said that while it did not have the affected turbines mentioned by Siemens Gamesa in its fleet it was interested in collaborating with the company to mitigate any potential impact on its development portfolio.

Siemens Energy shares were up 5.5% at 1403 GMT, recovering some losses after analysts said Friday's sell-off was overblown. Siemens Gamesa first disclosed problems around its 5X model in July 2021, flagging higher than expected ramp-up costs.

Problems with the model, of which more than 5 gigawatts have been sold around the world, include manufacturing delays as well as higher costs of material and transportation. Siemens Energy also said there was a separate set of challenges in offshore turbines, including the delay of production site construction and supply chain issues.

Many wind developers have already seen delays in projects due to shortages of components and rising costs. Siemens Gamesa has agreed to tie up with Poland's PGE Group and Orsted to supply 107 wind turbines.

PGE said it saw no risk to timely deliveries of Siemens Gamesa turbines for the Baltica 2 offshore wind project in the Baltic Sea, set for commissioning in 2027. ($1 = 0.9153 euros)