Light fuels, natural gas and electricity had already become more expensive in 2021, but energy prices rose again significantly in 2022, mainly due to the effects of the war in Ukraine. Almost all sectors of the economy are affected, and the service industry for wind turbines also needs to recalculate various prices. However, the situation regarding maintenance always needs to be individually assessed while taking the specific turbine type, maintenance contract, region and country into account. In order to generally limit the risk of uncontrollable price increases, Deutsche Windtechnik has always included clauses on price increase rates in most service contracts. In this category, you mainly find provisions that relate to a range of actual price indices. In individual cases, there are also fixed price indices.
Material and supply chain factor
Personnel and logistics costs are particularly affected by the current price fluctuations, but various materials are as well. If you take a full maintenance contract as a basis, material costs account for an average of approximately 30 percent of the total costs. However, depending on the condition and any damage that has occured, the increase in actual material costs can vary greatly and is estimated to have been above 10 percent on average during recent months. The challenging situation regarding some materials, components and spare parts is made more difficult by uncertainties in the supply chains. Necessary semiconductor products in particular are difficult and/or expensive to obtain, for example when installing Aircraft Detection Light Systems (ADLS). This leads to both higher prices as well as a demand to build up stocks. Deutsche Windtechnik counteracts delays in the course of projects by making more resources available overall.
Skilled workers as a central driving force
Similar to the material costs, personnel costs make up an average of 30 to 40 percent of the service costs. Price developments vary widely in this area also. However, the shortage of skilled workers is even more noticeable than the actual increase in wage and salary costs. The lack of personnel sometimes results in very high costs for scheduling, replacement measures, new and transitional solutions, training, qualification, transfer and much more.
Variable logistics costs
In addition to material and personnel costs, logistical services also affect the overall costs in very individual and wind farm-specific ways. These include travel costs and energy usage in particular. Logistics costs, for example, account for up to 70 percent of maintenance costs. This is primarily due to the use of transfer ships, energy consumption as well as the ancillary costs. The specific situation of a wind farm in terms of costs, revenues (remuneration plan) and technical conditions must be analysed. This is where Deutsche Windtechnik's close contact with clients helps it to jointly develop a solution and strategy for the long-term operation of a turbine. Secure, reliable and profitable for all parties involved.
