Siemens Energy says to focus on fixing issues in existing wind biz

September 25 (Renewables Now) - Siemens Energy AG (ETR:ENR) will focus on fixing quality issues of certain onshore platforms at its struggling wind subsidiary Siemens Gamesa rather than on attracting new business, a spokesperson for the German group told Renewables Now in a response to a media report.

Last week, German business daily Handelsblatt, citing industry sources, reported that Siemens Gamesa had largely suspended new business with its problematic onshore wind turbines for the time being.

“Our absolute priority is to revise the affected systems in existing customer projects. That’s our focus,” the spokesperson for Siemens Energy said without giving more details.

The report further highlights that Siemens Gamesa first needs to process a high order backlog and resolve quality issues for wind turbines to be delivered in the future. However, the focus on tackling the quality problems on some onshore wind platforms and the restraint in new business is likely to have an impact on revenue and order intake.

The wind energy business, which has been incurring losses for years, dealt a serious blow to Siemens Energy which took full ownership of the business earlier this year in an effort to fix the issues. In the third quarter alone, Siemens Energy was hit by EUR 2.2 billion (USD 2.34bn) in charges at Siemens Gamesa, which were a result of quality issues related to certain rotor blades and main bearings in the 4.X and 5.X onshore platforms, as well higher product costs and ramp-up difficulties in the offshore business.

As a result, the Munich-based group is projecting a loss of EUR 4.5 billion for fiscal 2022/23 and is reviewing the wind turbine business.