Good news: A sharp downturn in global wind turbine orders

There will - fortunately - be fewer of these ugly convoys in the coming years

Global orders for wind turbines are down by 30% during the first half of this year. The largest wind turbines companies are fighting for survival, as governments have begun to cut the generous subsidies on which the manufacturers are totally dependent: 

MAKE Consulting has examined global order intake for 1H/2012, and we 

note that wind turbine order intake (MW) in 1H/2012 fell by 30%  YoY, 

principally due to weakness in core markets  in  Asia Pacific and Europe, in 

particular China, India, UK and Germany (offshore). Regulatory uncertainty, 

subsidy cuts and grid connectivity issues all contributed to the weakness and 

offset good growth in new emerging markets.  

The  Americas held up well driven by the U.S. where developers endeavor to squeeze in projects before 

the PTC expires at the end of 2012 and high order activity in several  Latin 

American markets.

Weak orders in 1H/2012 support MAKE’s view that 2013 will be a weaker 

year for installations (-5% vs 2011).  However, we expect that order flow 

could improve in 2013 and beyond.

MAKE´s expectation of an improving order flow next year should be taken with a pinch of salt. The consulting company is not a neutral actor, but exists mainly in order to assist the wind turbine industry. That is obvious when one reads how they choose to describe themselves:

MAKE Consulting is a professional team of independent advisors with proven experience in the international wind energy industry. This has given us detailed insight and market intelligence which we make every effort to translate into an end product that provides our clients with a competitive advantage.

We are as passionate about renewable energy as you are, and have developed the analytical skills and tools to match.

The sharp downturn in wind turbine orders is evident also in the order books of two of the industry´s main actors, Siemens and Vestas: 

German engineering conglomerate Siemens reported on Thursday a 66 percent drop from a year earlier in new third-quarter orders for its renewable energy business, which includes its wind and solar units.

Danish wind turbine maker Vestas has announced first-half orders for turbines with total capacity 1,973 megawatts, down from 2,895 MW in the first half of 2011.

Read the entire article here

PS

The bad news for the turbine makers is good news for the growing number of people all over the world who oppose these inefficient, bird killing and landscape destroying monsters, which for totally irrational reasons became the darlings of the "progressive" enviromentalists. 

(image by wikipedia)