Turbine blade issues related to “high intensity lightning” were behind Vestas’ extraordinary warranty costs of €175m in the second quarter of the year.
Vestas chief executive Henrik Andersen told an investors call today that the company has worked with clients and project owners to ascertain the root cause of the problem and determine the measures needed to address the issue.
Andersen would not be drawn on specific turbine models impacted or the locations of the hardware, citing commercial sensitivities.
“It is limited to a number of models and therefore we are addressing it on a customer, site and turbine-by-turbine basis,” he said.
Vestas said only that a “considerable number of blades that are already installed” had been impacted.
Andersen added that blades for current and future turbines are not affected by the problem.
Vestas recorded a €94m fall in earnings before interest and tax for the second quarter of 2020, compared with the same period last year.
The drop was mainly down to the extraordinary warranty costs, as well as Covid-19 impacts, the company said.