Wind turbine prices expected to rise by 10 percent

Wind turbine prices might go up by 10 percent over the next 12 to 18 months due to increases in commodity prices, logistics costs, and challenges due to the pandemic, said an analysis by Wood Mackenzie.

Turbine OEMs and component suppliers face a double whammy of cost increases and demand softening over the coming two years due to the US PTC (Production Tax Credit) and China feed-in-tariff (FiT) phase-outs. Despite this rise in costs, we expect turbine prices to return to normal levels by the end of 2022,” said Shashi Barla, Wood Mackenzie Principal Analyst in a statement.

The firm has already noted an increase in prices of  steel, copper, aluminium, and fibre prices, over the last six months. 

In their analysis, Wood Mackenzie said that as the market conditions continue to evolve, OEMs and turbine suppliers “must adopt next-generation technologies and materials” as supply chain bottlenecks for vital materials emerges over the next four to five years.

“If the capacity of critical capital components and raw materials does not expand over the next two years, the wind turbine industry will encounter supply constraints that could pose issues for country-level decarbonisation targets,” added Barla.