Workers in LM Wind Power US factory test positive for COVID-19

According to a brief by the North Dakota governor Doug Burgum, a total of 110 employees associated with LM Wind Power’s factory in Grand Forks have tested positive after having a screening of about half of its 900 workers this week. Following the outbreak, the blade factory will be closed for at least 14 days. The governor also issued a stay-at-home order for all its workers regardless of their test results. LM Wind Power’s parent company, GE Renewable Energy, has committed to continue to pay its employees during the shutdown.
 
This is not the first disruption caused by the COVID-19 on blade production at LM Wind Power facilities. To ensure the health and safety of their employees, LM Wind Power halted production at their two blade facilities located in Castellon and León in Spain on 17 March. Following the two weeks ban of all non-essential work in Spain by the government, the suspension remained in place. LM Wind Power reopened operations at its León plant on Friday 10 April, and at Castellon on Monday 13 April, after the territorial labour office gave the company’s safety plan the green light.
 
In our first Weekly Update released on 6 April, GWEC reported that LM Wind Power suspended the production at two of its facilities in Karnataka and Gujarat in India to comply with the nationwide locked down from 24 March ordered by prime minister Modi. See the update below on India for more information on how this will impact the supply chain.
 
According to GWEC Market Intelligence, LM Wind Power, acquired by GE Renewable Energy in April 2017, is the world’s largest wind blade supplier with nearly one in five turbines in the world fitted with their blades. The company has more than 15 production facilities location in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The disruption caused by COVID-19 on their blade production in the US, India and Spain is likely to impact its planned delivery in 2020.