During this week’s WindEurope conference in Bilbao, Spain, a string of CEOs in the wind turbine industry have vented their grave concerns for the state of affairs in the industry where squeezed prices and surging costs have left many turbine makers in dire financial straits.

One of them is Sheri Kickok, Vice President and CEO of Onshore Wind International at GE, speaking out on the supremely unhealthy state of affairs in the supply chains at the moment, writes Recharge News.

”It is unhealthy because we have an inflationary market that is beyond what anybody anticipated even last year,” said Hickok according to Recharge News.

She highlighted the steel prices, which have tripled, leading steel for offshore wind turbines to cost USD 2,000 per tonne. The prices of copper, carbon fiber and logistics have similarly soared.

”It is really ridiculous to think how we can sustain a supply chain in a growing industry with these kind of pressures,” Hickok continued.

After last year’s surge in the wake of Covid-19, the prices had settled – at a higher level – but the war in Ukraine has rendered the system unbalanced again.

There is a hitherto unseen – and untenable – level of uncertainty and the GE exec fears for the industry ecosystem.

Right now, different suppliers within the industry are reducing their footprint, they are reducing jobs in Europe. If the government thinks that on a dime, this supply chain is going to be able to turn around and meet two to three times the demand, it is not reasonable,” she noted, according to Recharge News.

The EU has raised its renewables targets, endeavoring for installed wind capacity to grow from 190GW today to 480GW by 2030.

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