GE Vernova to close wind turbine blades plant in Brazil as demand falls

GE Vernova’s foreign subsidiary LM Wind Power will close its wind turbine blades plant in the Brazilian city of Suape due to a drop in demand in the Latin American market, the company has announced. 

As reported by Reuters, the move, which will affect about 1,000 jobs, highlights the challenges faced by the wind power sector in Brazil in recent years due to oversupply and increased competition with solar power projects.

Workers were told that the factory will close as soon as next month when the last blades on the production line are concluded, according to a news portal for local authorities in the metropolitan region of Recife.

Copenhagen-based LM Wind Power opened the plant in the Suape industrial port facility in 2013, with the enthusiastic backing of authorities in the north-eastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco.

LM Wind Power was acquired by GE in 2017, and the US giant continued to invest in the plant at first, but has since gone on the retreat in Brazil as part of a long-running rationalization drive.

GE had first announced in 2022 that it would suspend the production of new wind turbines in Brazil. That same year, the company suspended operations at its Brazilian turbine manufacturing facility in Camacari, in the state of Bahia.

The following year, Siemens Gamesa also halted its wind turbine factory in Bahia state.

Installation of new wind farms fell by more than 30% in 2024 in Brazil to 3.3 gigawatts, according to industry group ABEEolica, which expects the unfavorable scenario to persist until 2026.

Brazil’s market for wind turbines has been to date dominated by the onshore sector, but the country is preparing for an inaugural offshore wind tender after Congress approved a regulatory framework in December.