Much Ado About... Wind - ? -

At present Alstom (France) is the target of an international takeover battle. General Electric (GE) from the US and Siemens from Germany both show severe interest in buying Alstom's energy division. News have been running hot within the last days. There are updates nearly every hour. Now even the French government joined the discussion declaring their concerns about the sellout of a 'national treasure'.

This is not the place to provide all the background information of this controversy, but we would like to check on things regarding the wind sector.

Alstom manufactures several onshore wind turbines, but their gem is the 6MW offshore turbine Haliade. Alstom's share on the turbine world market is quite small though. They weren't among the top 15 turbine manufacturers of last year.

That is why their wind energy division must be considered to play just a minor role in the takeover. Other parts of Alstom's energy sector are likely to stand in the focus of GE's and Siemens' interest. Nevertheless it's worth taking a closer look.

The purchase of Alstom's wind energy division as a part of the deal would get GE back into the offshore wind business. The Americans closed their own division some years ago after several failures. Now would be the perfect time to get back into business just as the US is starting to build the first offshore wind farms. GE would be able to provide 'home-made' turbines for these wind farms without having to develop their own turbine and testing a prototype first.

Another advantage for GE would be the possibility to finally get into the European market a bit easier. They are a huge player at home, but never quite made it in the old world. After the takeover they would have the logistics in Europe to conquer the continent.

It is more difficult to determine Siemens' interest in Alstom as both companies supply the market with nearly identical products and divisions.

Siemens, ranking fourth amongst the top turbine manufacturers last year, is big in wind already. They are especially huge on the European market and in offshore business where Alstom is in no position to be a competitor at the moment. But their 6 MW Haliade is targeting the same audience as Siemens' own 6 MW turbine. Buying out a future competitor with all their technology on the way might be the reason for Siemens' interest in the first place.

Although Siemens is said to have offered a guarantee for Alstom's workers to remain on their jobs for the next three years, this doesn't mean much regarding the long planning phases of offshore projects. With both companies having quite similar structures Siemens might want to put things together and thus reduce jobs in Europe at some point in the nearer future.

As to the takeover in general at least right now there seems to be no huge impact on the wind industry at all. Tempest in a teapot, one might assume.