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Released October 28, 2025 | GALWAY, IRELAND
en
Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)
Summary
Falling European offshore wind demand has forced turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems A/S (Copenhagen, Denmark) to shelve plans for a new plant in Poland.
The move comes at a time when other leading European windfarm majors like Ørsted (Fredericia, Denmark) are struggling and the sector has experienced lower-than-expected growth in the first half of 2025. Industrial Info has been tracking the company's plan to build a turbine blade factory in Szczecin, but speaking to the Financial Times, it confirmed that it has been "paused due to lower than projected demand for offshore wind in Europe."
The new plant would have created 1,000 jobs and helped supply Poland's nascent offshore wind sector. Szczecin, located near the Baltic Sea, is already home to a Vestas plant making nacelles for the country's first offshore windfarm, Baltic Power. It added that it "continues to invest in a local manufacturing footprint where offshore wind market volume and certainty allow." Industrial Info is tracking 11 Polish offshore wind projects worth almost US$35 billion in investment. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Project Database can click here for the reports.
The stop-work order caused a collapse in the company's share price, and, despite the lifting of the order last month, Ørsted has had to raise significant capital to help stabilize its credit rating while pursuing plans to make major cuts. The company will now focus its investment on Europe and certain Asia-Pacific markets. Rasmus Errboe, chief executive officer of Ørsted, said: "We're fully committed to finalising our 8.1 gigawatt (GW) construction portfolio across three continents--Ørsted's largest to date."
The European wind sector continues to grow, according to the latest data from leading industry group WindEurope, but there has been a softening in the first half of 2025, forcing it to lower estimates going forward. It said that Europe built 6.8 GW of new wind in the first half of 2025, which was "less than expected and not nearly enough to deliver the European Union's (EU's) 2030 energy security and climate targets. Except for Germany, most countries in Europe are not doing enough to build more wind." It maintained that the key issues are insufficient permitting, the slow expansion of Europe's electricity grids, stagnating efforts to electrify Europe's economy and suboptimal auction design.
WindEurope stated: "Europe will now build less new wind in 2025 than we previously expected. At the start of the year we expected 22.5 GW of new installations. We now expect 19 GW. For the EU we expected 17 GW. We now expect 14.5 GW." The impact for the EU's 2030 target is more stark. WindEurope expects the EU to have 344 GW of wind energy capacity by 2030 - comprising 298 GW onshore and 46 GW offshore - which will be 81 GW short of the EU's 2030 wind energy target of 425 GW.
"Governments must get their act together on wind energy," argued WindEurope Chief Executive Officer Giles Dickson. "Wind is competitive -- it brings down electricity costs for citizens and businesses. Wind is secure -- home-grown wind turbines reduce costly and dangerous dependencies on fossil fuel imports. And wind is good for the economy -- it creates jobs and tax income. Around 400,000 people in Europe work in wind already, and each new wind turbine contributes 16 million euro (US$18.6 million) to Europe's GDP. But Governments are still failing to get wind permitted and built fast enough."
By the Numbers
About Industrial Info Resources
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
Summary
Falling European offshore wind demand has forced turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems A/S (Copenhagen, Denmark) to shelve plans for a new plant in Poland.
Falling Demand Hits European Offshore Wind Sector
Denmark's wind turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems A/S (Copenhagen, Denmark) has shelved plans for a new turbine plant in Poland due to lower-than-expected demand in the offshore wind sector.The move comes at a time when other leading European windfarm majors like Ørsted (Fredericia, Denmark) are struggling and the sector has experienced lower-than-expected growth in the first half of 2025. Industrial Info has been tracking the company's plan to build a turbine blade factory in Szczecin, but speaking to the Financial Times, it confirmed that it has been "paused due to lower than projected demand for offshore wind in Europe."
The new plant would have created 1,000 jobs and helped supply Poland's nascent offshore wind sector. Szczecin, located near the Baltic Sea, is already home to a Vestas plant making nacelles for the country's first offshore windfarm, Baltic Power. It added that it "continues to invest in a local manufacturing footprint where offshore wind market volume and certainty allow." Industrial Info is tracking 11 Polish offshore wind projects worth almost US$35 billion in investment. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Project Database can click here for the reports.
Ørsted Hit Hard by Trump's Stop-work Order
Vestas' decision comes at a time when fellow European wind heavyweight Ørsted has announced plans to cut a quarter of its 8,000-strong global workforce by 2027. This follows an August stop-work order by the Trump Administration in the U.S. against the company's almost complete Revolution Windfarm, located off Rhode Island. The 704-megawatt (MW) windfarm, which is 80% complete and has cost US$5 billion in investment to date, has 20-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) to deliver 400 MW of electricity to Rhode Island and 304 MW to Connecticut.The stop-work order caused a collapse in the company's share price, and, despite the lifting of the order last month, Ørsted has had to raise significant capital to help stabilize its credit rating while pursuing plans to make major cuts. The company will now focus its investment on Europe and certain Asia-Pacific markets. Rasmus Errboe, chief executive officer of Ørsted, said: "We're fully committed to finalising our 8.1 gigawatt (GW) construction portfolio across three continents--Ørsted's largest to date."
Wind Sector Growth Slows in 2025
The European wind sector continues to grow, according to the latest data from leading industry group WindEurope, but there has been a softening in the first half of 2025, forcing it to lower estimates going forward. It said that Europe built 6.8 GW of new wind in the first half of 2025, which was "less than expected and not nearly enough to deliver the European Union's (EU's) 2030 energy security and climate targets. Except for Germany, most countries in Europe are not doing enough to build more wind." It maintained that the key issues are insufficient permitting, the slow expansion of Europe's electricity grids, stagnating efforts to electrify Europe's economy and suboptimal auction design.
WindEurope stated: "Europe will now build less new wind in 2025 than we previously expected. At the start of the year we expected 22.5 GW of new installations. We now expect 19 GW. For the EU we expected 17 GW. We now expect 14.5 GW." The impact for the EU's 2030 target is more stark. WindEurope expects the EU to have 344 GW of wind energy capacity by 2030 - comprising 298 GW onshore and 46 GW offshore - which will be 81 GW short of the EU's 2030 wind energy target of 425 GW.
"Governments must get their act together on wind energy," argued WindEurope Chief Executive Officer Giles Dickson. "Wind is competitive -- it brings down electricity costs for citizens and businesses. Wind is secure -- home-grown wind turbines reduce costly and dangerous dependencies on fossil fuel imports. And wind is good for the economy -- it creates jobs and tax income. Around 400,000 people in Europe work in wind already, and each new wind turbine contributes 16 million euro (US$18.6 million) to Europe's GDP. But Governments are still failing to get wind permitted and built fast enough."
By the Numbers
- 11: Active Polish offshore wind projects worth almost US$35 billion
- 2,000: The number of jobs to go from Ørsted's 8,000-strong workforce by 2027
- 344 gigawatts: The total European wind energy capacity by 2030
- Falling demand forces Vestas to cancel Polish turbine plant project
- Wind major Orsted forced to cut 2,000 jobs
- European wind sector still growing, but slows in first half of 2025
About Industrial Info Resources
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
