“We [the OEM sector] have made electricity from wind generation extremely competitive… I would even say cheap,” Nauen told reporters in response to a question from Recharge, as he called for the value the manufacturers bring to the global decarbonisation push to be properly recognised “way beyond price per kWh”.
“We [the OEM sector] have made electricity from wind generation extremely competitive… I would even say cheap,” Nauen told reporters in response to a question from Recharge, as he called for the value the manufacturers bring to the global decarbonisation push to be properly recognised “way beyond price per kWh”.
Outgoing CEO Nauen says auction prices may have to rise to more fairly share costs of energy transition among generators and consumers
Hours after he was ousted as Siemens Gamesa CEO, Andreas Nauen claimed electricity generators and consumers should take a fairer share of the risks that are leaving wind turbine manufacturers “squashed in the middle” and said power tariffs may have to rise.
Nauen – who will leave in March to be replaced by Jochen Eickholt from parent group Siemens Energy – said the current situation that has left every major western wind OEM in the red with the exception of Vestas, and that only thinly profitable, cannot continue.
“We [the OEM sector] have made electricity from wind generation extremely competitive… I …
... more [truncated due to possible copyright]Outgoing CEO Nauen says auction prices may have to rise to more fairly share costs of energy transition among generators and consumers
Hours after he was ousted as Siemens Gamesa CEO, Andreas Nauen claimed electricity generators and consumers should take a fairer share of the risks that are leaving wind turbine manufacturers “squashed in the middle” and said power tariffs may have to rise.
Nauen – who will leave in March to be replaced by Jochen Eickholt from parent group Siemens Energy – said the current situation that has left every major western wind OEM in the red with the exception of Vestas, and that only thinly profitable, cannot continue.
“We [the OEM sector] have made electricity from wind generation extremely competitive… I would even say cheap,” Nauen told reporters in response to a question from Recharge, as he called for the value the manufacturers bring to the global decarbonisation push to be properly recognised “way beyond price per kWh”.
“The OEMs have taken on a lot of risk, material risk. If steel gets more expensive, our problem, copper, our problem, in most cases.
“That distribution of risks needs to be corrected. Whether we can then keep the tariffs and the auctions at a very low level, I don’t know, maybe they have to go up a little,” said Nauen.
“We deliver competitive electricity, clean electricity, we generate jobs in many countries. It cannot be the OEMs… getting squashed in the middle,” said the outgoing CEO, who cited the half a billion euros bill for a new turbine platform. “That has to be paid for”.
Nauen’s comments mirror similar remarks by Vestas CEO Henrik Andersen, who predicted that OEMs will merge or vanish if they continue to be asked to invest heavily in the energy transition while being relentlessly squeezed on costs.
Nauen, who successfully ran Siemens Gamesa’s still thriving offshore arm before taking the CEO role 18 months ago, said it is crucial that “the difficulties of onshore don’t stop [Siemens Gamesa] doing the growth and right things in offshore… keep on investing into offshore, so that we can harvest all the growth of a business that we’re really good at”.
The financial position that cost Nauen his job was on display as the company published final first quarter results after releasing the preliminary version in January.
They confirmed that it made a €403m ($455m) net loss in the October-December period, and now expects core profitability for the current full-year to come in at 1% at best, and maybe as low as -4%.