Wind turbines manufacturers halt race for size to focus on price and delivery
Interesting news from Reuters: Market trends : Why the Wind Turbines manufacturers are stopping the turbine size increase race.
It is a fact that Turbines manufacturers are suffering since a few years volatile costs and delivery challenges which have delayed projects and severely dented their revenues.
Over the past decade, offshore wind developers in Europe and U.S. sought larger turbines to lower the cost of energy per kilowatt hour and win state-backed power contracts in competitive auctions.
The maximum size of new offshore wind turbines has risen from around 8 MW to around 15 MW amid an “arms race” among leading OEMs. Intense competition squeezed the margins of turbine suppliers, while volatile global costs and logistics issues since the coronavirus pandemic have prompted offshore wind investors, developers and suppliers to reassess project risks.
Focusing on one model size could lead to reduced manufacturing costs thanks to standardization and industrialization, hence providing western OEMs and their component suppliers with the clearest path to return to profitability.
Vestas, for example, plans to focus on its 15 MW offshore wind turbine. This size is “best positioned to enable greater certainty of on-time, successful project delivery,” the spokesperson said. A focus on more mature existing technology would enable the supply chain to "reap the quality and cost benefit of consistent volume and an industrialized wind turbine technology over many years,” the Vestas spokesperson added.
From developers’ point of view, in some cases smaller turbines can be more cost-competitive because they can produce more power at slower wind speeds, feature more mature technology, or are more readily available.
The standardisation of turbines at existing capacities would also reduce the need for new larger vessels or significant upgrades to existing vessels which is currently one strong bottleneck in the OWI Supply Chain.
https://www.reutersevents.com/renewables/wind/wind-turbine-makers-halt-race-size-focus-cost-delivery