A curious business news item came up this morning on German public news (ARD, Channel One). Enercon is mentioned.
Most folks won't recognize the name, but they are a big name in wind turbine production in Germany.
The company says two things are going on....to require dismissing 3,000 workers (possibly): the national energy policy is not in favor of wind-power generation, and there's a vast amount of public sentiment about placement of wind generators on German soil (virtually all negative).
Roughly a year ago, they'd already cut 800 jobs.
So what is going on?
The wind turbine companies want government subsidies, to counter the cost of installation. Right now, the Merkel coalition isn't talking about this subject.
Cost of one single turbine installation? It's up around three to four million Euro. More, if you toss on regional conflict, and legal fights against the turbine installation.
The companies want less public 'push-back' and a subsidy of some type.
But here's the key problem.....it's government policy that both nuke power and most coal power will shut down over the next ten to fifteen years. The scripted answer here is that both solar and wind power will make up for the loss. At the current poker 'table'....the wind generator folks hold most of the cards. If they aren't part of the game, then what is the reliability of you having German-produced electrical power in the future? Or is the true game....simply to buy your power from neighbors like France, Poland and Czech for 30-percent more?
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