WIND MOVES AHEAD

Vestas Says U.S. Expansion on Course as Turbine Market Shrinks
Alex Morales.November 10, 2010

"Vestas Wind Systems A/S, the world’s largest wind turbine maker, will increase production in the U.S. even after analysts including HSBC Holdings Plc cut forecasts for installations in the region…[The Denmark-based] company will expand its U.S. head count to 4,000…from 2,300 now, Chief Executive Officer Ditlev Engel said…Last month it said it will eliminate 3,000 jobs in Europe…

"Vestas has spent more than $1 billion building four factories in Colorado to replace turbine imports in the U.S., the second biggest market after China. HSBC last month pared its forecast for the U.S. wind market this year by 14 percent and by 33 percent next year. Bloomberg New Energy Finance has also slashed predictions."

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"This year in Colorado, Vestas opened a plant in Brighton making nacelles, the casings that hold the power-generating equipment. It also built the world’s largest windmill-tower factory in Pueblo and added to its blade-manufacturing plant in Windsor…Another blade plant is due to open next year in Brighton. That will give Vestas the capacity to make about 3,000 megawatts of turbines a year in the U.S…

"… London-based HSBC said in an Oct. 14 research note that the Danish company is well-placed to gain market share worldwide and that its slice of sales will likely be 16.5 percent in 2014, up from 14.5 percent last year…The U.S. market will probably total 6 gigawatts this year and 5 gigawatts next year, according to HSBC. New Energy Finance predicts 7.8 gigawatts will be installed in 2011…The industry added 395 megawatts in the third quarter, the least since 2007…"

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"…[A] lack of long-term energy policies in the U.S. is behind the slump. In 2009, installations totaled 10 gigawatts…Vestas is looking to the U.S. after twice lowering its sales forecast for 2010. The company, which has lost more than half its market value in the past year, said Oct. 26 it will close four factories in Denmark and Sweden as European demand drops because banks have tightened financing to wind-park developers and the region’s sovereign debt crisis has limited prospects for economic growth. Shares in the company [have] dropped…for year to 45 percent…

"…Engel said it’s too early to tell if this month’s congressional elections, in which the Republicans won control of the House of Representatives, will have any impact on renewable energy…[He] is head of a G-20 advisory panel that recommended the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies, setting up a “robust” price for emitting carbon, scaling up research and development, and allowing free trade in environmental goods and services…"