Adwen GmbH will shut down the production and repair plant in Bremerhaven and close the sites in Bremen and Emden, with the service operation in Bremerhaven remaining in place.
This is according to a reconciliation of interests and a social plan agreed on by the management and the works council of the offshore turbine manufacturer.
In the long term, 211 jobs at Adwen GmbH will remain mainly at the Bremerhaven location. The associated staff reduction of 166 jobs is to be carried out in a socially responsible manner, the company said. The measures will be implemented gradually and are to be completed by September 2020.
“In recent months, we have worked intensively with the works council to provide employees with clarity as quickly as possible and to provide the best possible support to those affected by the transition to new employment,” said Carsten König , Managing Director of Adwen GmbH.
The core of the personnel reduction is a volunteer program for the employees of Adwen GmbH with appropriate compensation payments for the transition into new jobs. In addition, a transfer company will be set up for the affected employees in which they can remain for a maximum of twelve months after leaving the company. In the transfer company, the employees will receive professional training to support them in re-entering a new professional activity.
“We very much regret the development of Adwen GmbH, but in the interests of the workforce we have tried to find the best possible solution for our colleagues. The works council has designed the negotiations with the management in a target- and result-oriented manner and achieved an acceptable result from the viewpoint of the works council,” said the Chairman of the Works Council of Adwen GmbH.
The background to this decision was above all the lack of incoming orders, the associated and already announced change in the business model with a focus on the maintenance of the installed Adwen wind turbines, and the unfavorable economic development of Adwen, the company said.
The overcapacities and the increasing cost pressure in the wind industry are also reasons for the changes. The job reductions have already been considered in Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy’s global restructuring plans announced in November 2017, covering a reduction of up to 6,000 jobs in 24 countries over three years.
Adwen’s 5 MW platform supplies three offshore wind farms in the German North Sea and one in the Baltic Sea, bringing the total installed capacity of this platform to almost 1GW.