Mood in Germany's wind industry on decline but remains overall positive – survey

The "mood" in Germany's and Europe's wind industry is "clearly trending downwards" compared to six months ago, according to a survey among industry stakeholders by research institute wind:research and WindEnergy Hamburg. While global markets remain quite positive, negative trends for short- and long-term expectations are visible especially in Germany and in Europe in general, according to the authors' assessment of the WindEnergy trend:index. "The mood in Germany, which had improved steadily from the third quarter of 2019 until the first half of 2022, is now declining further but remains at a very high level compared to the previous years," according to the report’s results. Overall, future concerns include the availability of skilled labour, with the importance of education and training programmes assessed as high or very high by the majority of respondents, and the global shortage of resources, which respondents expect to hamper wind energy expansion goals strongly or very strongly.

On 26 October, shares in Germany's Siemens Energy slid nearly 40 percent after the company said it was in talks with the government about seeking state guarantees following quality problems in the company's wind unit, Siemens Gamesa, the world's largest maker of offshore wind turbines. While the roll-out of wind power in many regions of the world is accelerating, turbine makers still grapple with high raw material prices and other challenges for turning a profit. However, rising orders could mark a turnaround for the industry once these new contracts start to pay off.