The price European developers pay for offshore wind turbines has increased between 40%and 45%since 2020,driven by a supply squeeze in the turbine's most critical components—nacelles and blades—which only Siemens Gamesa and Vestas can currently deliver at scale,according to Rystad Energy.

Sales prices for wind turbines have outpaced the manufacturing cost increase,which was between 20%and 25%over the same period,the analyst house said in a study this week.

While tower manufacturing has remained more flexible due to a broader supply base and lower barriers to entry,nacelle and blades supply is much more constrained,the study showed.The latter are now only offered by two Western OEMs,Siemens Gamesa and Vestas,after GE Vernova paused accepting new offshore orders following a series of technical setbacks.

The price surge is partly a response to the inflation shock of 2022,when OEMs were locked into fixed-price contracts that no longer reflected their costs.

“They essentially sold turbines for almost less than what it cost to make them”,Rystad Energy senior analyst for offshore wind,Sander Baksjoberget,told Recharge.

When these contracts expired in 2023,manufacturers increased prices to recover previous losses,but also to reflect the cost of building significantly larger and more complex turbines.

“They had to increase the price to be profitable and of course we don’t want Western OEMs to lose money,”Baksjoberget said.

“The problem is the duopoly and market concentration we see going forward.”If there were to be an inflation shock similar to the one in 2022,he added,“most of that will be passed through to the developers this time around.”

No healthy competition

Because of their market dominance,Siemens Gamesa and Vestas are able to choose which projects they supply,“shifting the risk onto developers,who now have fewer alternatives”in terms of turbine models and price negotiation.

“That is not healthy competition,”he warned,“they now have more power to shape the contracts with the developers”.

Photo:Source and graphic:Rystad Energy's Offshore Wind Solution,May 2026

Baksjoberget cautioned that Rystad's analysis reflects implied unit economics at the turbine level and does not capture the wider company-level costs that weigh on financial results.

When the two companies start to reduce costs in manufacturing,he said,they will be more profitable in offshore wind.

But he warned that while in a real competitive market,lower manufacturing costs would translate into lower prices for developers,in the current“duopoly”,that is not necessarily true.

“They have so much pricing power in the market.”

Beyond the price spike,Baksjoberget argued that the lack of competition will also weigh on how quickly floating wind technology can develop at scale.

“Vestas and Siemens Gamesa won't use a lot of energy focusing on floating wind and helping out that market currently,because they will choose the biggest,most solid bottom-fixed projects at the moment.”

The China question

With no other Western manufacturers able to fill the gap,there is the question of whether Chinese OEMs could provide the competition Europe's market needs.

“Right now,it is only Chinese manufacturers that actually can come in to provide more competition in the market,”said Baksjoberget,who also argues that while Chinese manufacturers would bring much-needed competition,“it’s good we are a bit hesitant and rethinking who should come in”.

He noted,however,that Europe's goals of securing local manufacturing,building resilience and accelerating the build-out of offshore wind“do not always align,at least in the short term.”