Energy

Hundreds Of European Wind Turbines Are Operating At A Loss

REUTERS/Murad Sezer

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Andrew Follett Energy and Science Reporter
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Hundreds of wind turbines in the Netherlands are operating at a loss and could soon be demolished, according to an article published Thursday by the Dutch financial newspaper Financieele Dagblad.

Subsidies for generating wind energy aren’t cost effective anymore, according to the paper’s analysis. Most of Europe’s modern wind turbines are struggling to be profitable due to the inefficient subsidy structure.

Financieele Dagblad is extremely worried about the failure of the Dutch wind industry, because the Netherlands is already behind its green energy targets.

Dutch financial issues with wind power aren’t unique to the Netherlands. Globally, the wind power industry is slowing down and will continue to slow, according to a 2015 report by the International Energy Agency. The wind industry is growing the slowest rate in years due to changes in the structure of subsidies, issues with reliability, and consistently high prices.

Investment in wind power is falling worldwide, especially in developing countries like China, which stopped building new turbines last month because most of the energy was being wasted. Wind power capacity is growing slowly because large numbers of people simply cannot get much of their electricity from wind.

Globally, only 30 percent of total wind power capacity is actually utilized due to its intermittent and irregular nature. Wind power still isn’t capable of providing electricity at predictable times and the output of any given turbine is quite variable over time. Additionally, the times when wind power generates the most electricity don’t coincide with the times when power is most needed.

Wind power produced a mere 4.4 percent of all electricity generated in the U.S. during 2014 according to U.S. Energy Information Administration.

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