Siemens saw a 21% decrease in orders received through its Wind Power and Renewables division in Fiscal Year 2015, driven largely by a sharply lower volume of large orders, particularly in the offshore business, the company said in its Annual Report 2015.
The orders received in FY 2015 reached EUR 6.14 billion, as compared to EUR 7.76bn worth of orders recorded in FY 2014.
The segment’s revenue for 2015 was EUR 5.7bn, up 2% on an actual basis compared to EUR 5.6bn revenue in 2014, but down 3% on a comparable basis, as increases in the offshore and service businesses were more than offset by a decline in the onshore business.
The division’s profit was up sharply compared to fiscal 2014 when charges of EUR 272 million for inspecting and replacing main bearings in onshore wind turbines and for repairing offshore and onshore wind blades were recorded.
The profit for FY 2015 stood at EUR 160 million, as compared to EUR 6 million profit in FY 2014.
In the current year, profit came in below the company’s expectations as the division faced reduced margins in the offshore business due partly to increased competition and expenses for ramping up commercial-scale production of turbine offerings.
Looking ahead, Siemens expects a slight decline in the markets served by Wind Power and Renewables in fiscal 2016, which is expected to be only partly offset by a substantial growth in the market for offshore wind power.
While Siemens expects Asia and the Americas to offer good growth prospects for offshore wind power in the medium term, the company expects only limited market volume in these markets in the short term.
Overall, Siemens sees a further continuation of the trend towards an increasing share of renewable energy within the energy mix.