An industry in its death throes: Offshore wind turbine market collapses

Opposition against inefficient, bird killing and landscape destroying wind turbines is growing everywhere. The wind turbine industry is in its death throes, as governments cut subsidies. Now it turns out that offshore wind power, the last hope of a dying industry, is collapsing:

Sales of offshore wind turbines collapsed in the first half, a sign the power industry and its financiers are struggling to meet the ambitions of leaders from Angela Merkel in Germany to Britain’s David Cameron.

One unconditional order was made, for 216 megawatts, 75 percent less than in the same period of 2011 and the worst start for a year since at least 2009, according to preliminary data from MAKE Consulting, a Danish wind-energy adviser. Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS) of Denmark, the largest manufacturer, won the contract while Germany’s Siemens AG (SIE) was among those shut out.

That’s a setback for Chancellor Merkel and Prime Minister Cameron, who are targeting a 10-fold expansion in offshore wind to limit fossil fuel use and create jobs. Banks have curbed lending to developers as Europe’s financial crisis spread, and utilities held off on new projects because of delays in connecting existing ones to high-voltage transmission grids.

This is what happens to an industry that manufactures products which do not meet real market requirements - and is totally dependent on tax payers´ subsidies:

Shares of Vestas, the world’s biggest wind turbine maker, have fallen 80 percent in the past year through yesterday, underperforming the 57 percent decline in the Bloomberg Industries Wind Turbine Pure-Play Index (BIWINDP) tracking 14 companies in the industry. Siemens, which with Vestas dominates the offshore business, dropped 27 percent over the same period.

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