Scrolling through my newsfeed this morning, I came across news that General Electric is laying off workers in its onshore wind division. This move, as you might have already guessed, is an effort to mitigate the loss in profits caused by soaring prices related to COVID-19 manufacturing chain problems and the war in Ukraine and regulatory changes. Here’s how the article describes it:
“Onshore wind is the largest of GE's renewable businesses, which together employed 38,000 people worldwide at the end of 2021. The unit, however, has been battling higher raw material costs due to inflation and supply-chain pressures.
In the United States, which has been GE's most profitable onshore wind market, policy uncertainty following the expiry of renewable electricity production tax credits last year has hit customer demand, leading to a fall in the unit's revenue this year.”
It will be interesting to see how long contraction in the industry lasts. My heart goes out to all those who will be losing their jobs in the coming months.