Siemens Energy accumulates problems around Gamesa, whose Spanish factories are excluded from future improvements related to offshore wind. In its accounts for the third quarter, the German group says it has completed a report on quality failures in Gamesa’s wind platforms that have forced it to write down a charge of 1,600 million with which to face future costs.
According to him, the failures refer to the 4.X and 5.X platforms, both for onshore wind power. They affect some of the installed turbines, not all, and have to do with the frequency of operation of the rotors. It will fix the problems between 2024 and 2025, he adds.
The German group has hired a consultancy, AlixPartners, to deal with the rulings. It also says that its supervisory board has set up a special committee to carry out a “detailed investigation” into Siemens Gamesa’s “quality and productivity problems.”
It has also excluded several Gamesa suppliers from future deliveries to the 4.X and 5.X platforms, without specifying their names or reasons. It will also review “the current strategy and action plan” of the Spanish group’s wind energy business, on which it will update the markets in November.
On June 22, Siemens Gamesa already announced that it was annulling its profit forecast for fiscal year 2023 due to the “substantial increase” in failures in parts of wind turbines manufactured by Gamesa. At that time, it already announced that it could be forced to assume a cost of more than 1,000 million.
A few days ago, the unions in Spain assured that Siemens is studying the sale of the two subsidiaries with which it manufactures wind turbine components, Gamesa Electric and Gearbox, which have eight of the group’s thirteen plants in the country and employ about 1,100 people.
Siemens Energy does not inform today of these eventual closures, but it has left out the Spanish facilities from the improvements in several factories to adapt them to offshore wind projects. The reinforced installations are located in France, Germany, Denmark and the United Kingdom.
The German company has also recorded losses of 2,931 million euros in its third fiscal quarter after accounting for the impact of the Gamesa turbines. In the same period of the previous year, its red numbers had been 564 million. For the whole of its fiscal year, the German group now expects to register a gap of about 4.5 billion euros.
