Lockdowns hampering wind turbine construction
Wind turbine makers are finding it increasingly difficult to get parts they need to build their machines, snarling progress on a global shift toward renewables at precisely the time scientists say it needs to speed up.
Manufacturers including Vestas Wind Systems and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy are wrestling with their own factory shutdowns and disruptions to suppliers after lockdowns related to the coronavirus spread worldwide. Delays at major ports, airports and border crossings have snagged deliveries of raw materials including steel and components from turbine blades to ball bearings. That will hamper completion of wind farms this year and next.
It’s also a blow to efforts to slash greenhouse gas emissions close to zero by the middle of the century, a deadline that the International Renewable Energy Agency says requires a rapid deployment of wind and solar technology.
“These delays are important,” said Phil Taylor, professor of energy systems at England’s Newcastle University. “We need to make great strides in decarbonization as early as possible to keep the total emissions during the transition period as low as possible.”
In order to hit ambitious targets such as the European Union’s aim to have net-zero emissions by 2050, wind power must generate some 6,000 gigawatts of electricity — over 10 times the current level, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. It’s that or pray for breakthroughs in carbon-capture technology in cloudy places where solar is not an option.
Building wind turbines — which range in size from small backyard models to giants as big as New York’s Chrysler building — rests on a complex network of raw material and component suppliers. In a typical utility-scale wind turbine, rotor blades, bearings, gearboxes, controls and generators are made up of around 8,000 parts, according to the U.S. Energy Department. Supply chains can often stretch across several continents and include rare earth elements shipped from Asia and high-tech components from Europe.
Lockdowns designed to slow the coronavirus as it spreads through the world’s leading industrial powers are rippling through those supply chains, with disruption worsening as the virus hops from country to country, forcing governments to act.
“Every part of the supply chain has been affected,” said John Hensley, vice president of research at the Washington-based American Wind Energy Association. “Supply cuts in Spain, India and China have affected component availability in the U.S. We’re also seeing slower construction and development activity.”
He estimates that delivery delays caused by the virus shutdowns have put up to 25 gigawatts of U.S. wind farm projects at risk. “Major delays could cause economic damage,” Hensley said.
Among a wave of shutdowns: TPI Composites, a U.S. maker of turbine blades, recently said it slashed production by 50 percent at its plant in Izmir, Turkey. It’s operating with just a skeleton staff in India, and both countries introduced restrictions on the movement of people. Navantia, a Spanish manufacturer of offshore wind components such as protective jackets for nacelles and floating bases, said its factories will remain closed until the emergency lifts.
Those disruptions and others like them are hitting the biggest manufacturers. Siemens Gamesa said it’s had to close factories in Spain and India, adding that production in the U.S. was disrupted because of a lack of parts.
General Electric had some hiccups with its supply chain in China early on and has worked to contain them, said Jérôme Pécresse, CEO of the renewable energy unit.
Companies are fighting to keep production moving. Belgian dredging company DEME, which clears debris from the seafloor to make way for turbine bases, will prequarantine staff on a hotel boat for two weeks before deploying them to projects, a move designed to avoid costly shutdowns if the virus spreads among workers. Others are reorganizing supply lines and production floors to increase social distancing, but they warn that the measures entail delays.
Wind industry executives hope they can make up some of the shortfall next year when restrictions lift, and they are calling for governments to lighten tax and regulatory burdens to help the process. The Scottish government has extended planning permission for wind projects by six months to help developers cope with delays.
BloombergNEF, which had expected that installations would grow 24 percent this year, now expects a more moderate 9 percent expansion.