Coronavirus impacts wind power jobs and profits

• 4 years ago (2020-04-28)
• David Flin

Europe 1068 Wind 240

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Joe Kaeser, CEO of Siemens , said in early April that the company would not cut jobs due to the pandemic. However, the company is experiencing financial impact as a result of the lockdowns imposed because of the coronavirus. Last week, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) said that it would withdraw financial guidance for the year because the “uncertainty associated with COVID-19 was compounding challenges in India and northern Europe.” SGRE said COVID-19 disruptions in its supply chain, manufacturing operations, project execution, and commercial activity had “primarily affected and adversely impacted the situation” in its onshore wind power business. SGRE said that offshore and service operations could also experience disruptions in the coming months. SGRE has confirmed that it is furloughing workers at two manufacturing plants in Iowa due to supply chain issues caused by the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas has laid off about 400 workers and suspended its financial guidance for 2020, due to disruptions from COVID-19. Vestas said in a statement: “Due to the extraordinary situation from the pandemic, additional measures are needed to ensure the organisation executes as strongly as possible on our order backlog and customer commitments in 2020. To this end, Vestas intends to reduce its workforce across functions in Denmark that do not directly support 2020 deliveries.”

Vestas said that most of the layoffs would be at the company’s locations in Lem and Aarhus, Denmark. Vestas employs about 25,000 workers worldwide, with about 4000 in Denmark.