Siemens Gamesa Halts Plans for USD 200 Million Offshore Wind Turbine Blade Factory in US

Business & Finance

November 13, 2023, by Adnan Memija

Siemens Gamesa has discontinued its plans to build and operate an offshore wind turbine blade manufacturing plant in Virginia, US.

The company’s USD 200 million (about EUR 187 million) manufacturing plant was planned to be built at the Port of Virginia’s Portsmouth Marine Terminal. It was intended to support major US offshore wind projects, including Dominion Energy’s 2.6 GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project.

First announced in October 2021, the facility, which covered more than 80 acres, was expected to support approximately 300 jobs once fully operational.

However, Siemens Gamesa said it cancelled plans to build and operate the blade manufacturing plant in Virginia, as development milestones to establish the facility could not be met.

Under a contract signed with Dominion Energy, Siemens Gamesa will supply 176 of its SG 14-222 Direct Drive offshore wind turbines to the CVOW project with the installation scheduled to begin in 2024.

The first monopiles, manufactured by EEW SPC, already arrived at the Portsmouth Marine Terminal.

Once fully operational, the offshore wind farm will be able to generate enough electricity to power over 900,000 homes.

The change in plans by Siemens Gamesa comes at a time when supply chain issues, raised interest rates, and inflation had major impacts on several offshore wind projects in the US.

At the beginning of November, Danish renewable energy developer Ørsted decided to cease the development of the Ocean Wind 1 and Ocean Wind 2 offshore wind projects in New Jersey, citing supply chain issues and rising interest rates.

In addition to Ørsted, Avangrid, a member of the Iberdrola Group, also terminated power purchase agreement (PPA) last month for its Park City Wind offshore project.