The onshore and offshore arms of the world’s biggest wind turbine manufacturers should stop acting like “enemies in the same company” and work more closely together, said a top executive at renewable energy giant Enel.

Enel global head of power generation Antonio Cammisecra said Vestas, Siemens Gamesa and GE Renewable Energy should foster closer links between their land and sea-based operations or continue to suffer a “big waste of information, of knowledge, of efficiency”.

Cammisecra said of the three's onshore and offshore operations: “They don’t talk to each other. Actually, they hate each other, they are like enemies in the same company”, comparing them to the diesel and electric engine divisions of a car-maker.

The Enel executive – whose Enel Green Power unit is among the planet’s biggest renewables operators with a 12.6GW fleet in onshore wind alone – conceded his Italian “love of drama” could add to his sense of the internal conflict, but insisted there was a serious point at stake.

“There is not a formalised process of cross-fertilisation between the two technologies, which is a big waste of information, of knowledge, of efficiency.”

The offshore turbine sector could learn lessons about cost-reduction and onshore about reliability, said Cammisecra during a briefing with journalists on Wednesday.

“I’ve said this several times to the CEOs of Vestas, of Siemens [Gamesa], of GE [Renewable Energy] . They keep them quite separate.

“Now they’re telling me they’re starting a process of cross-fertilisation, cross experiences, moving people from one division to the other.”

GE Renewable Energy and Siemens Gamesa have offshore and onshore businesses under the same corporate umbrella, while Vestas is a 50/50 joint venture partner in MHI Vestas Offshore Wind with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan.

Cammisecra said Italy-based Enel had not wavered on its long-standing policy of staying out of the offshore wind sector – “it’s just not for us” – but admitted one of his ambitions is to visit an offshore project for a service procedure.

A fuller interview with Antonio Cammisecra follows in Recharge soon

Wind

Wind OEM giants' onshore and offshore arms 'like enemies in the same company': Enel Green Power chief