By Stine Jacobsen
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -President Donald Trump’s import tariffs will ultimately result in higher electricity prices for U.S. consumers, wind turbine maker Vestas warned on Tuesday, adding it could not absorb the extra costs.
Wind turbines include components and materials sourced globally, making the sector vulnerable to potential impacts from international trade tariffs.
“Ultimately, the tariffs will go in and be part of an increased cost to the projects and therefore it will lead to an increased price in electricity,” Vestas CEO Henrik Andersen told Reuters.
Denmark’s Vestas, the largest wind turbine maker outside of China, said the current tariffs would pose “notable challenges”, particularly to the execution of its U.S. order backlog.
Andersen declined to specify exactly how much prices might increase, adding it varied by project location and timing.
Vestas reported a first-quarter operating profit before one-off items of 14 million euros ($15.8 million), better than the 29-million-euro loss expected by analysts in a poll compiled by the company.
Vestas said it could manage the potential blow from tariffs within its current 2025 financial guidance, prompting its shares to rise around 4%.
Alongside tariffs, the wind industry faces other challenges including grid bottlenecks, slow permit processes, and more stringent financing conditions stifling growth, as well as fierce U.S. government opposition to offshore wind expansion.
Norway’s Equinor said last month it would halt offshore construction of its Empire Wind I project in New York State following a stop-work order from U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in a blow to the company and the industry.
Andersen said the potential loss of the 810-megawatt order would not significantly impact Vestas.
“If it’s not being built, we adjust it out of the backlog, and then we take the turbines to some of our other customers if it’s possible to reallocate,” he said.
(Reporting by Stine Jacobsen. Editing by Terje Solsvik and Mark Potter)
