I looked at some of the major news in the green energy sector through the last couple of days and I stumbled upon several interesting points. What got my attention and curiosity the most was that the latest announcements in the wind energy segment seem quite contradictory.
Yesterday, the Energy Sector at Siemens, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of wind turbines, announced that it expects significant growth in orders in the Renewable Energy Divisions and that “new orders in the fourth quarter will probably be considerably above the comparable prior-year level”.
Now, what does tell us? It either tells us that Siemens is doing an incredible job of putting up wind turbines and far exceeds its competitors, or it tells us that there is an increased demand for wind energy. I really like to believe the latter and with the world’s largest offshore wind farm opening in the UK last Thursday, it is definitely heading in the right direction.
Looking at those two events it seemed like a good week for wind power.
However, the good news contradicts one of the latest statements on the U.S. market for wind energy. Last Friday the third-biggest American wind power developer Horizon Wind owned by Portuguese EDP Renovaveis, said it will cut investment in the industry because there is no clear national energy policy.
According to Dow Jones Newswires Horizon Wind will cut spending by more than half to less than $300 million in 2011. One of the reasons for the announced reductions on spending is that there is no long-term visibility in the energy policy.
So why isn’t there more visibility in the policies? The unclearness already made the largest American wind company NextEra Energy Inc. cut back on development in the U.S. and if more companies take the same road it does not look like a near future solely based on renewable energy.
The administration needs to give clear guidelines ASAP so the American wind companies can make the same announcements as Siemens: increased demand and growth.
Ingen kommentarer:
Send en kommentar