MUNICH (Reuters) – Siemens Energy’s supervisory board has set up a task force to determine the extent of the problems at its embattled wind division, two sources on the board said.

The investigation into quality issues revealed in June is overseen by a separate special committee made up of members of Siemens Energy’s supervisory board, the sources said.

In particular, the board is investigating why Siemens Energy management failed to identify the issues during the due diligence process that preceded the recent buyout of the remaining stake in the Siemens Gamesa division, the sources said.

Quality issues in onshore wind are limited to Siemens Gamesa’s 5.X and 4.X platforms, the sources said, allaying fears that the entire wind farm of around 63,000 turbines will be affected.

Most of the issues are seen on the 5.X platform, of which 800 turbines have been built so far and 100 have been delivered to customers.

Siemens Energy declined to comment while DNV, the consulting firm that certified the 5.X platform design during the due diligence process, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The difficulties of the wind division forced Siemens Energy to abandon its financial targets for 2023 and prevent costs of more than one billion euros to solve the quality problems encountered.

“We’ve gotten to a point where there’s a consensus that this has to be the last profit warning. If not, something has to change,” said one of the interviewed sources.

For now, Siemens Energy’s supervisory board continues to support CEO Christian Bruch and Siemens Gamesa CEO Jochen Eickholt, but that could change if the findings of the investigation show that management should have noticed the problems during the due diligence process, the sources said.

(Report by Christoph Steitz, Dina Kartit, edited by Blandine Hénault)

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