A mechanical engineer trained in Germany and the US, his main activities before moving into the wind sector involved the fossil-fuel driven steam and gas turbine business at Siemens
(2013: 21)
Manufacturer
Tacke truly earns his place at number three through his position at the head of the world's number one offshore manufacturer. But his influence was boosted significantly in October when he was elected as the new chairman of EWEA. He said one of the major challenges would be securing a 30% renewables target in the 2030 EU climate and energy framework.
A weak renewables target would hurt Siemens' wind business but help its much larger power-generation unit. With a profit margin of 1.3% on revenue of EUR3.9 billion in the first nine months of the business year to September, Siemens Wind is struggling to make its mark against the power generation business, which achieved a profit margin of 16.8% on revenue of EUR9.9 billion over the same period, even though order intake grew 17% to EUR5.9 billion over the period, while power generation saw a 3% downturn in orders to EUR11.5 billion.
However, with wind orders going up, Tacke may see an improvement in Siemens wind installations around the world in 2014. Last year there was a sharp drop of 1GW to just 3GW. Onshore installations alone virtually halved to 1,656MW in 2013 after 3,235MW in 2012 and, unfortunately, the company's onshore low-wind 3MW turbine model with a 130-metre rotor will not be available until 2017.
