Vestas to Lay Off 400 People, Close Temporary Offshore Wind Facility

Vestas will stop some of its projects with immediate effect and lay off around 400 employees. The company will cut workforce across functions that do not directly support its 2020 deliveries.

The employees affected by this decision are mostly working in Vestas’ Danish facilities. A limited number of layoffs is also expected in other locations in Europe.

The temporary facility in Viborg, which was serving specific offshore wind projects from MHI Vestas, will be closed.

The majority of people to be laid off are working in Aarhus and Lem since technology projects driven from those locations are being stopped.

The wind turbine supplier has come to the decision amid the global COVID-19 crisis, as the company is trying to keep its competitive edge. This involves a stronger focus on the execution of Vestas’ order backlog and customer commitments in 2020, according to a press release from the company.

In addition, Vestas’ registered directors in Executive Management will take a 10 per cent pay-cut until end of 2020, the company said.

“We’re in a period of high uncertainty and by making a strategic decision on our product portfolio and reduce complexity, we sustain our competitiveness in the future and ensure we can adjust quickly to COVID-19 challenges”, said Henrik Andersen, President and CEO of Vestas.

“It’s always difficult to say goodbye to good colleagues and the timing for these decisions is never good, but our responsibility is to strengthen Vestas for long-term success. By making Vestas and wind energy more competitive, we want to provide the solutions that make the energy transition an integral part of rebuilding societies and economies, and ultimately creating jobs across the value chain”, Andersen said.