Posted on 02/06/2023 9:14:30 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The greenies’ dream of “clean” (except for millions of dead birds) energy from wind farms is dying in the face of the poor economics (even with tax subsidies) and unreliable technology. The big players in constructing wind turbines are facing massive losses and write-downs and cancelling big offshore wind projects. Brace yourself for demands for even more subsides to the failing industry.
The green energy subsidiary of German electrical equipment giant Siemens just reported Thursday that it lost nearly a billion dollars in the last quarter. Via Fox News (Hat tip: Beege Welborn, Hot Air):
Global green energy company Siemens Gamesa reported Thursday that it had lost a staggering $967 million during the three-month period from between October to December.
The Germany-based company, which dubs itself as "the global leader in offshore power generation," noted the wind industry has faced various unfavorable pressures leading to negative growth in recent months and years, in its earnings report for the first quarter of fiscal year 2023 released Thursday morning. The company added that governments would need to further assist the industry to ensure future positive growth.
"The negative development in our service business underscores that we have much work ahead of us to stabilize our business and return to profitability," Siemens Gamesa CEO Jochen Eickholt said in a statement.
"The beginning of fiscal year 2023 saw a further increase in global wind demand prospects for the next ten years, but further governmental action is needed to close the gap between ambitious targets and actual installations," the company added in its release.
The translation of “further government action” is increased subsidies, beyond those already offered in the misnamed “Inflation Reduction Act,” which mostly subsidizes green energy. Think Solyndra-like loan guarantees beyond those already available.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Natural Gas....It’s clean, it’s available, it’s moveable.
Of course they want to abandoned the wind project. OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY will eventually be insufficient. Maybe we’ve reached that point where most OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY is being REDIRECTED TO THE UKRAINE PROJECT,
They never pay for themselves on land. The return on investment will never be reached and there are the other associated problems.
Now imagine how much more violent the ocean is not to mention how much more corrosive it is and ask yourself if a turbine will last longer in saltwater.
PS - they require oil to function because that is what lubricates them and the oil needs to be changed frequently.
Greenie Weenies: Hey, no fair!....those are FACTS!................
My guess is - that like ethanol - it takes more energy to make the ‘illusion’ than energy we get out of it.
Every study I’ve seen has shown that wind energy is net negative.
Meaning that the amount of total energy expended to mine the metal out of the ground, construct the wind turbine parts, and transport and install the wind turbines. Is greater than the total amount of energy the turbine is expect to generate over its life time.
“Sustainable Energy” is actually completely unsustainable. They are a scam just like the perpetual motion machines.
I guess those ESG pensions will take a hit also?
Twenty years to pay for something with a ten year lifespan.
Blade disposal is problematic and most turbines are abandoned in place, with no accountability.
I can visualize a wind-farm, with squeals of delight in the distance.
Awesome!!
No subsidy, no matter the size, will ever make wind-generated electricity a viable source of energy for anything other than a niche application.
The mechanisms are much too complex and the source much too unreliable for consistent outcome.
Go nuclear. But not with the huge custom-built reactors of the 1960s, but with newer, much more compact, and far safer reactor units, which may be built on an assembly-line basis, and shipped for setup on the sites via rail and semi-trailer trucks.
I 100% agree. Now what will happen to all that investment in the Cervantes inspired wind machines and solar powered bird killers?
I worked for a branch of the Siemens corporation and to ever hear a German manager/executive EVER say anything negative about financials was a big No-No, almost heretical. Because. “Ze make da best engineering in da vorld...”
In a couple of hundred years, after we finish devolving into the planet of the apes, there will be vast stretches of wasteland where nothing lives or grows that are just vast stretches of concrete with rusting hulks of coils and plastics and composite blades that never biodegrade, with toxic chemicals slowly leeching into the soil and groundwater and streams, as well of hundreds of square miles of shattered black glass absorbing heat from the sun all day long
“ “Ze make da best engineering in da vorld...”
Lol, Siemens were my mortal enemies for automation and drives. It seemed it was only good if they could add 15,000 layers of absolutely unnecessary extra complexity to everything. Being I work for a very international manufacturing company with lots of plants in Europe and Asia Siemens was very prevalent as their very german sales people were quite adept at dazzling managers with “technical BS”. It took decades to get our corporation off of Siemens. About 10 years ago we were bought by a german company and I feared we would be starting all over again as they had their own systems with their “advanced” automation designs. Ours made theirs look like absolute krap designed by 5 year olds and we won that battle and now we are upgrading their old krap siemens systems
Intermittent energy production can never be economically. Proper economic analysis will fully burden the intermittent production costs with the full costs of the backup power production, ie, a full additional power plant.
In February 2021, wind was about 25% of the power generation to the Texas grid and it went to basically zero because in arctic cold winter outbreaks and in peak summer heat, the winds are generally calm. Same last week during our 4 day ice storm, wind dropped way off.
There must be a full backup power plant, maintained, and in hot stand by. Those costs have to be burdened to the cost of wind power. Therefore wind will never be economically. Economical wind power is a fantasy and waste of everyone’s money except to the businesses make a profit from taxpayer subsidies / welfare payments.
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