By Paul Homewood
h/t idau
From Virginia Business:
Amid failing turbine components and financial challenges, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy said Friday it has “discontinued” its plans to build the nation’s first offshore wind-turbine blade manufacturing facility at the Port of Virginia’s Portsmouth Marine Terminal.
“Siemens Gamesa will continue to meet our obligations for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project. Siemens Gamesa discontinued plans to build and operate an offshore blade facility in Virginia, as development milestones to establish the facility could not be met,” a spokesperson for the Spanish-German wind turbine company said in a statement.
The $200 million project, first announced in October 2021, was expected to create 310 jobs in Portsmouth — and also was viewed as a major step toward creating a U.S. offshore wind manufacturing hub in Hampton Roads. The factory was set to support Dominion Energy’s $9.8 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, and Siemens Gamesa had leased 80 acres at the port’s Portsmouth terminal next to 72 acres leased by Dominion for staging and preassembly of the foundations and turbines for the wind farm.
https://www.virginiabusiness.com/article/siemens-gamesa-cancels-200m-wind-blade-factory/
Forget about all the fancy words. The simple reality is that Siemens could not supply blades at the ultra low prices needed by wind farms to be competitive.
Either the blades will come from China, or the offshore wind farms won’t be built at all.
Meanwhile Siemens have made it clear they are not prepared to throw good money after bad anymore.
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November 11, 2023 at 01:30PM
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