The Green Fail Marches On

That flushing sound you hear is another $50 million taxpayer dollars going down the shitter of Teh Won’s™ Green Energy policy.

Vestas Cuts 800 North American Jobs As Orders Slow

As many governments are hitting the skids financially, silly taxpayer dollar slurping schemes to save Gaia are falling by the wayside as they should.

Danish wind turbine maker Vestas said the impending expiry of a U.S. tax credit had exacerbated a fall in orders for next year, forcing it to make more than 800 job cuts in the United States and Canada so far this year.

With the Production Tax Credit (PTC) on renewable energy set to expire at the end of the year, Vestas Wind Systems A/S had previously said it could be forced to lay off a total of 1,600 employees in North America if the scheme is not renewed.

Vestas, which is battling the effects of government austerity measures in various countries, said the 800 staff cuts so far this year represented 20 percent of its North American workforce.

Just another example of the Ogabe administration’s remarkable ability to pick losers to sink our money in. I’ve said it a million times, barring some incredible advance in technology, it’s impossible for wind power to produce more than a tiny fraction of our energy needs. Many existing projects are being abandoned for a number of reasons including noise, maintenance costs and being food-processors for birds. The industry just can’t compete without ongoing, large tax-credits and other infusions of public money.

“The U.S. wind industry has slowed, largely due to the uncertainty surrounding the Federal Production Tax Credit extension,” said Martha Wyrsch, head of Vestas-American Wind Technology, Inc.

Rising costs and fierce competition, especially from Asian rivals, have added to its problems.

Vestas has already closed a number of factories worldwide and will transfer sales staff from southern Europe to South America.

The group told analysts and investors in briefings on Wednesday it would stop non-profitable projects as it battles worsening prospects, aiming to lift its operating margin to high single-digits in the medium term. [Emph. Mine]

Poor babies have to compete in the capitalist market place like everyone else and can’t make it. Yeah, South America and all those quasi-socialist governments should be easy to bribe into sinking money into our bullshit, but then what makes you think they won’t buy from the Chinese too? Unsaid in the article is that fiddy-million US bucks that we can kiss good-bye. I’ve seen quite a few estimates of how much the taxpayers could lose on OZero’s pet project. One number that did stick out was $35.5 billion for finalized loans and loan guarantees from DOE.

The group plans to shift focus increasingly to emerging markets in a bid to regain growth and offset cooling demand in mature Europe and United States markets.

The company’s order intake in the first half of the year was 24 percent down on the corresponding period a year earlier.

Vestas shares, which have plummeted from a peak of around 700 crowns set in 2008, traded down 1 percent at 34.65 crowns by 1023 GMT (0623 ET) against a 0.5 percent decline in the Copenhagen stock exchange’s benchmark index < .OMXC20>.

I love their choice of words “mature Europe and United States markets.” That means the adults are back in charge after the kiddies gave up their unicorns and skittles dreams. The nail in the coffin should be yesterday’s revelation that global temperature showed NO increase in the last 16 years. Unfortunately, AGW or Climate Change as they now call it seems to be the herpes of junk science, we just can’t make it go away, no matter how much hard evidence to the contrary is released.

Regardless, they’ll always find willing politicians to spend other peoples’ money in search of the enviro-vote. I would add you can bet that a second Obama administration would continue pouring money into failed technologies.

-Carry On