| Work Detail |
Energy equipment maker GE Vernova is considering reducing its the size offshore wind business, a move that could cut over half of its workforce in the sector around the world.
As was the case with many developers, the company pointed to cost inflation and supply chain issues as the main crux of the sector’s problems over the last year.
The company claims that its proposal aims to transform its offshore wind business into a ‘smaller, leaner, and more profitable business’ within the larger company. Around 900 jobs are supposed to be slashed and the extra funds made from that redirected to existing projects, including quality control. The company has not yet revealed where the jobs will be lost.
Some 1,700 people are employed by the company in offshore wind, including in factories in Saint-Nazaire and Cherbourg, in France.
CEO Scott Strazik has said previously that GE Vernova’s wind segment would lose $300m this quarter in an attempt to complete a $3bn order backlog.
In its proposal to the GE Vernova European Works Council, the company said that it would continue to allocate resources to support existing projects.
These issues come on top of two turbines failing on two separate offshore wind farms just over a month apart. The first happened at Vineyard Wind in the waters southwest of Nantucket. The turbine at Vineyard Wind suffered blade damage on July 13.
No one was hurt but the island beaches were strewn with fibreglass shards and green and white foam – over six truckloads of it. More debris was found in the water later on as the state of the blade was deteriorating.
After that, a blade failed at the Dogger Bank A offshore wind farm in late August, which is currently under construction. This is the second blade failure at Dogger Bank. In all three cases, a Haliade-X turbine was the model used. |
