The global recession continues to put the hurt on the wind turbine market. But government stimulus dollars could begin to stabilize sales in the next several months.
New banks also are beginning to lend again for wind projects
This assessment came Tuesday from Vestas Wind Systems, the largest supplier of wind turbines. Across the industry, suppliers have seen order shortfalls this year, Vestas included.
*The company shipped 618 turbines in the second quarter, down 12 percent from last year.
*The capacity of the systems was 1,172 MW, down a larger 20 percent.
The shortfalls can be traced largely to the financing markets. Banks and traditional lenders have resisted loaning money in unsettled times.
This is changing. “The many governmental initiatives around the world are starting to have an impact, and market prospects are beginning to improve,” Vestas said in a press release.
“At the same time, several new banks and financing institutions have come onto the market, which means that the impact of the credit crisis on the wind power market is slowly starting to taper off,” Vestas said.
In fairness, these new banks are looking deeper at projects and are far more critical in their analysis. This increases the time it takes for deals to get done. The delays are worse when more than one bank gets involved.
Still, the likelihood of increased government spending could provide a boost for wind energy, especially in the United States.
Renewable energy currently accounts for “less than 2 per cent of the world’s electricity production,” says Vestas. That share will rise to “at least 10 per cent by 2020, equal to an installed capacity of at least 1,000,000 MW.”
