Ever-larger turbines rushed into the sector to feed a burgeoning offshore wind market are failing more frequently and with greater financial impact than their smaller counterparts, an analysis by renewable energy insurer GCube found.
Turbine OEMs are then passing costs onto an insurance sector buoyed by an influx of inexperienced providers looking for a quick profit and to satisfy corporate environmental mandates, asserted GCube’s report, Vertical Limit: when is bigger not better in offshore wind’s race to scale?
Referencing losses at all three global offshore wind turbine suppliers – GE, Siemens Gamesa, and Vestas – Fraser McLachlan, GCube’s CEO, told Recharge: “They’re now starting to push back on a lot of their warranties, and the impact of that pushing back on their warranties is being forced onto the insurance market.”