Excerpt from theguardian.com
Supply chain delays from China and the soaring cost of steel and other materials are combining to slow the advance of renewable energy in Australia and elsewhere, a leading insurer and industry groups say.
The cost of steel for wind turbine blades had risen by 50% or more since the Covid pandemic’s start, even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted a scramble to accelerate the switch away from coal, oil and gas to clean energy alternatives, according to GCube, a global insurer of renewables that has recently opened its first Australian office in Sydney.
“You’ve almost got the perfect storm right now,” Fraser McLachlan, GCube’s chief executive said. “We’re seeing delays of six months at a minimum to get replacement parts and things like that coming out of China, sometimes more.”
To order a blade for a multi-megawatt sized turbine can now take as much as a year or longer, adding to windfarm operators’ costs. Supply chain disruptions caused by the extended lockdowns in China are also stalling supplies of solar panels, and may take months to be resolved, McLachlan said.