Loss of use of Ukraine cargo planes hurts wind energy

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Just 55 An-124s were built between 1982 and 2014, as a collaboration between Ukrainian and Russian manufacturers. By 2019, 26 remained in civilian use, but the aging giants require regular specialized maintenance.

Mounting economic sanctions against Russia are likely to prevent Western airlines from getting spare parts and maintenance from any Russian facility. And the Russian invasion has made it impossible to service An-124s in Ukraine. The loss of An-124 capacity would be a blow to industries that move large payloads, like the wind energy sector, according to Ryan Peterson, CEO of the logistics company Flexport.

BERLIN/FRANKFURT, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Germany's Enercon on Monday said a "massive disruption" of satellite connections in Europe was affecting the operations of 5,800 wind turbines in central Europe.
It said the satellite connections stopped working on Thursday, knocking out remote monitoring and control of the wind turbines, which have a total capacity of 11 gigawatt (GW).
"The exact cause of the disruption is not yet known. The communication services failed almost simultaneously with the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine," Enercon said in a statement.