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From Luisa Zenker
They turn leisurely. The five wind turbines, with their white noses pointing directly at the Eickhoff plant in Klipphausen, where works council member Jörg Koziol is also leisurely smoking a cigarette. Yet the wind turbines are currently turning the mechanic's life upside down. Two months ago, the 34-year-old learned that his plant was being closed.
Koziol has been producing gearboxes for wind turbines, the composite piece between the blade and generator, in Klipphausen for seven years. He and his 170 colleagues mill, grind, heat, paint and assemble here in two-shift operation to sell the 46-ton round parts throughout Europe and beyond. But that will come to an end at the end of the year. Despite the fact that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) would like to build four to five wind turbines per day. A paradox that mechanic Koziol does not understand.
The ups and downs of the wind industry
Plant manager Heidrun Hennig cites competition from China as the reason for the closure. According to Hennig, the heavily subsidized manufacturers there are pushing into the European market. But not only the competition, also the long approval phases have taken the wind out of the supplier's sails. "The price calculations of years ago are no longer correct due to inflation, increased energy costs, disrupted supply chains." It's a problem that the plant is watching right on its doorstep. On Baeyerhöhe across the street, the dispute over the five wind turbines has been running in reverse for years via stop-and-go.
The construction of wind turbines is a fluctuating business from the outset, says Hennig. If you had to put the history of the plant into a novel, the headline would certainly be: A high and low between breeze and tornado.
After the company had opened in Klipphausen in 2009, it slid into the first economic crisis in the same year, and several months of short-time work followed for the approximately 160 employees. Although the subsidiary had previously received 7.87 million euros in funding from the Saxon Ministry of Economics. After that, the wind blew in the right direction for the time being: In the meantime, 650 gear units are produced per year. Further investment boosts of 15 million euros will follow in 2017.
Then, in 2019, a sharp relapse, three months of short-time work for the employees, almost 50 employees are laid off, production collapses by half because the main customer, the Hamburg wind turbine manufacturer Senvion, went bankrupt. Only Hamburg-based Nordex remains as a major customer.
Already at that time, the Bochum-based parent company Eickhoff begins to look for a partner for the Klipphausen subsidiary in background discussions. Three are shortlisted. During the negotiations, Eickhoff nevertheless continues to expand, founding a subsidiary in India. Its specialty: wind power gearboxes. A year later, it is sold. In Klipphausen Meanwhile, interested parties are jumping ship.
In mid-April, the Bochum management arrives. They announce the closure in front of the entire team. "What was the atmosphere like?" asks the frustrated works council member as he walks through the plant, raving about the air-conditioned factory halls, the team spirit and the know-how. "When you start again somewhere, you're the new guy," he sighs, greeting an employee in blue pants who is holding a milled gear in his hand.
Closures in the wind industry pile up
It's Bernd Schmidt, the 59-year-old who spotted Eickhoff's job ad in the paper in 2008 and said, "That's where I'm going. The wind industry has a future." Since then, he has driven fifteen minutes from Bannewitz to work in the factory halls. He didn't expect that he would now have to look around again before retirement. "Almost everyone here would have gone through a year of short-time work." In 2024, some experts expect an upswing. Others have given up on it altogether and are whispering at the plant about the end of the German wind manufacturers.
And indeed, the closures are increasing: For example, the wind gearbox manufacturer Zimm in Ohorn near Pulsnitz recently announced that it would cease operations. Earlier, the Dresden-based wind turbine manufacturer Iqron had to file for insolvency. Wind turbine manufacturer Vestas also left Lauchhammer in Brandenburg. And a year ago, Germany's last blade factory Nordex closed in Rostock. Is wind currently repeating the drama of the solar industry?
Chinese produce more powerful gearboxes
The chairman of Saxony's wind energy association, Professor Martin Maslaton, says: "It's true that the Chinese are pursuing an aggressive policy, but not just on wind." He is optimistic and believes that gold can be made with gearboxes at the moment. He sees the plant in Klipphausen as a special case, speaks of an investment backlog, of an overdependence on individual manufacturers. Of gearboxes that have a maximum output of 5.7 megawatts, while the Chinese competitor Goldwind builds turbines with 12 megawatts. He says, "There is a crisis of suppliers and cost structure." Maslaton perceives that producers are passing on pricing pressures to suppliers and wonders how to calculate during the tough permitting phases.
Although the Free State has already ensured that the expansion will proceed more quickly by means of the flexibility clause adopted in December, this may have come too late. "Eickhoff Klipphausen shows that even in global growth industries, competition for orders and market share is very tough," says the Ministry of Economics when asked.
From wind turbine manufacturer to tank supplier
But the employees at the plant are not giving up. Together with IG Metall, they have launched an innovation process called "Wind of Change," a unique concept worldwide. Over the course of three months, the Austrian think tank Grantiro will help them develop new ideas.
That's why yellow stickers hang everywhere in Eickhoff's factory rooms: "Gearboxes for Thermomix, roller coasters, tanks," echo from the walls. "Anything goes, it doesn't have to be a gearbox," Peter Rasenberger tells the skilled workers. "We could produce for cranes or for tank turrets, anything that needs to be turned and swung," suggests foreman Danny Leuteritz, who, like many in the plant, can imagine a shift from wind to armaments. "Big, heavy and precise," that's how the guys see their makings.
But wind turbine gearboxes are not off the table either. But to compete with the Chinese market, Rasenberger from the Austrian think tank thinks a new business model is needed: gearboxes by lease, prices per generated energy output or a repair and recycling service. By July, they want to flesh out 30 ideas, which they will then present to major investors with more than a billion in capital. They will then develop three business plans from these. A concept that has already helped the ailing photochemical pioneer Tetenal in Norderstedt get back on its feet. The company was hit hard by the shift to digital photography. At Waggonbau Niesky, too, Grantiro, founded in 2019, is involved in the innovation process.
But such a procedure costs 350,000 euros, half of which is paid for by the Bochum-based parent company Eickhoff itself. For the other 50 percent, the employees have turned to the Free State, but so far without a promise. The Ministry of Economics had offered the management to support the search for investors at an early stage. An outline has already been submitted to the Ministry of Economics, said spokesman Jens Jungmann in response to an inquiry from Sächsische.de.
But meanwhile, the first industrial companies from Dresden are already knocking on the door to poach skilled workers. "They're all intelligent people, they'll have a new job in a few weeks," says think-tank founder Rasenberger. But Jörg Koziol sees it differently: "We stick together. We don't want to leave."
