Wednesday, 7 September 2011

"Green jobs" - A total failure in Germany as well

Green jobs turning to Green Hell in Germany

News about the total failure of the "green energy jobs" ideology are coming in almost daily now. This report by Der Spiegel makes somber reading for the greenies, who have been touting the success of  "green jobs" in Germany:

Green energy used to be Germany's great hope for its economic future. But now the German solar industry is in trouble amid huge losses, job cuts and the threat of bankruptcies. Chinese firms are gaining an ever greater share of the German market -- and are benefitting from German subsidies for renewable energy.

The situation is desparate in town of Bitterfeld-Wolfen, once nicknamed the "German Solar valley":

One photovoltaic manufacturer after another located in the area. The clean, future-oriented industry generated jobs and income, employing as many as 10,000 people in its heyday.
But now Q-Cells is struggling to survive. The company made a heavy loss in the second quarter of 2011. It doesn't take a business degree to recognize the desperate situation in which the company, once the world's largest solar cell manufacturer, now finds itself.
Solar Valley threatens to turn into a vale of tears. Mayor Wust fears that her town is heading toward another historic watershed. This time the fates of 3,000 workers are at stake
---
The outlook has turned bleak for the entire solar industry. Companies that were the darlings of the stock market and the political world until recently are now experiencing a sharp downturn. Their share prices have plunged, as they downsize and write off millions in losses.

Only a few months ago leading German politicians were boasting that Germany´s manufacturers of renewable energy systems would be among the winners of the so-called energy revolution:

"Germany is the global market leader in the renewable energy sector," German Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen recently crowed. "If we expand this position, it will enhance the competitiveness of our industry and our country." Meanwhile, Chancellor Angela Merkel said she anticipated "opportunities for exports, development, technology and jobs."
Now, of all times, the green industries of the future are faltering. The goal of developing a new leading industry with global aspirations has become a distant hope. German players play only a secondary role in global markets and are steadily losing market share -- despite being heavily subsidized. Or maybe the industry is ailing precisely because of the billions in government aid.
Hardly any other industrial sector has received such generous political support as the producers of green electricity, especially the solar industry.

The Chinese manufacturers are now cashing in:

Chinese competition is now more likely to benefit from the billions in feed-in tariffs in Germany than domestic producers. To a substantial degree, German electricity consumers are helping to fund the rise of Chinese solar producers. According to the Rhenish-Westphalian Institute for Economic Research, the average German household pays about €123 a year to subsidize green electricity.

Read the entire article here

PS
And, as we reported earlier, the German (and other EU taxpayers) are now also asked to finance a huge solar power project in bankrupt Greece!

2 comments:

A K Haart said...

"To a substantial degree, German electricity consumers are helping to fund the rise of Chinese solar producers."

A quick exit from the whole sorry mess seems indicated, but will we see it?

hou said...

The goal of developing a new leading industry with global aspirations has become a distant hope.

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