Vestas, the world's largest wind turbine maker, is expected to show the strain of a stagnant U.S. market when it reports third-quarter results on Tuesday. Their biggest fear is the possibility that the Danish company could downgrade guidance for the full year 2010 for a second quarter in a row, as a hoped-for recovery in the United States fails to materialise.

But this global figure masks a shifting pattern of clean energy investments around the world. Investments in European projects fell in the second quarter, while China continued its extraordinary build-out of clean energy, and the US showed evidence of a bounceback, according to the Bloomberg New Energy Finance analysis.

Merrill Lynch said it's "bearish" on prospects for wind power demand in the U.S. because many states have exceeded their renewable-energy goals and lower natural gas prices make wind less competitive. The Bank of America Corp. unit cut to "underperform" Danish turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems A/S and Spain's Iberdrola Renovables SA, the largest operator of wind parks, in a note to investors today led by analyst Matthew Yates.

A federal agency that oversees trade disputes has rejected General Electric Co.'s claim that Mitsubishi violated GE patents to build wind turbines the Japanese firm imports to the United States. The U.S. International Trade Commission decision, handed down Friday without comment, reversed an administrative law judge's earlier ruling that Mitsubishi had violated the patents.

With their blades whirling, the 55 turbines that stand beyond the gray pebble beach of Pozo Izquierdo are stark, white symbols of a growing industry and the potential for abundant clean energy — and corruption. The town of Santa Lucía Tirajana, host to the annual Grand Slam windsurfing championships, was struck this year with gale force. A yearlong investigation by the Guardia Civil — the Spanish gendarmerie — turned up irregularities in a plan to build a new wind park. Now the mayor, five town officials and two wind park developers are fighting criminal charges ... This investigation and others taking place in Europe and the United States shed light on the sometimes freewheeling approach of the fast-evolving wind energy industry.

A new analysis from the Association of Danish Industry (DI) among its member companies in the energy sector shows that green energy producers are planning further lay offs this autumn. Green energy producers said they expected a large reduction in employee numbers over the next few months, more so than in other industries.

Spanish electricity company Iberdrola SA said Wednesday its second-quarter net profit fell 5.5% as the consolidation of its Energy East purchase wasn't enough to compensate for falling electricity prices and output.

Wind turbine makers around the world reported 50 percent fewer orders in the first half of 2009 than a year earlier and the market won’t improve until the last three months of the year, an industry consultant said. Manufacturers have made “widespread” job cuts and prices for turbines in Europe and the U.S. have fallen 5 to 25 percent in the same period.

US engineering giant General Electric (GE) yesterday warned that rising steel prices and turmoil on the financial markets will have a negative impact on its fast expanding wind turbine business. Speaking at an event in Germany to publicise its latest turbine, GE Energy's global sales leader for wind energy, Mete Maltepe, said that the rising cost of steel would drive up the price of turbines.

More production problems and one-off charges hammered wind turbine group Clipper Windpower's first half, but the group expects full year revenue to be over $800m and to be close to break-even in the second half. Losses in the six months to June soared to $211m from $78m on revenues of $156m, up from $20m. Increased costs to repair faulty turbines, provisions for inventory obsolescence and higher operating costs caused the higher losses.

The American Wind Energy Association lists what developers need to do when evaluating a wind project.