The US last year imported more than $4.6bn-worth of major wind turbine components, highlighting the industry’s reliance on foreign suppliers, including China, at at time when President Joe Biden wants the country to be building out unprecedented levels of capacity through to 2035 to help decarbonise the nation’s electricity grid.
Developers installed a record 16.9GW of wind power last year, 3.6GW ahead of the previous best of 13.3GW in 2012 and 85% more than the 9.1GW added in 2019. The result was demand for turbines outstripping component manufacturing capability nationwide which until now had been reasonably well-balanced for blades, nacelle assembly and towers against historical market requirements.
