Following the news that General Electric (GE) has abandoned the rights to supply and service its Halide 150-6MW turbines for two French offshore wind projects totaling nearly 1GW, and Siemens Gamesa (SGRE) has stepped in to fill the space, signing a new framework agreement with EMF for the remaining two projects after GE’s exit; Ankit Mathur, Practice Head of Power at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view:

“SGRE was a logical replacement because it had already partnered with large developers such as EDF, Orstred for the supply of turbines and has a proven track record in the European offshore industry.

“SGRE will stand to benefit from this supply agreement as it will solidify their position as leader in the offshore wind segment and will also help arrest their declining wind offshore order book. The revenue from offshore WTG segment recorded an increase of 21% in Q1 2019 to reach $913 million (EUR 801 million) from $752 million (EUR 643 million) on a year-on-year basis.

“The company is hoping a robust growth of more than 27% annually for their wind offshore business between now and 2025. This growth will be largely fuelled by newer offshore markets, including Taiwan and – especially promising – the US. Further the company is not keeping any stone unturned in order to reduce the cost, improving productivity and optimizing the synergies gained from the Siemens and Gamesa merger.  

“With GE still nascent in the offshore wind segment and another offshore wind competitor, Senvion, battling to stay afloat, the agreement will provide SGRE with the best chance to garner additional offshore projects in Europe and worldwide, while the competitors have their guards down due to falling pricing and fierce competition.”