Everywhere you look these days, there seems to be trouble in the wind power industry. Inflation, high interest rates, supply chain chaos and costly quality lapses have battered the profits and stock prices of wind farm developers such as Orsted A/S and turbine manufacturers including Siemens Energy AG. The latest sign of turmoil came on Oct. 31, when Orsted abandoned two huge wind farms it had planned to build off the coast of New Jersey. The cancellations were a major blow to the nascent US wind industry’s push to achieve the Biden administration’s goal of installing 30 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2030, up from almost none today.

But for General Electric Co., the largest US manufacturer of wind turbines, the seeming misfortune represents a boon of sorts. Almost three years ago, GE had contracted to supply roughly 100 gargantuan offshore machines to the first of those Orsted projects. The deal, worth an estimated $1.5 billion, was signed before costs for the industry skyrocketed, and it would’ve likely generated steep losses on each tower it delivered. Anything that winnows down the $6 billion backlog of money-losing contracts on the books of GE’s offshore wind business is a big win for the company—one that could put its struggling renewable energy division on a firmer financial footing just as Chief Executive Officer Larry Culp’s plan to break up the iconic conglomerate nears the finish line.