Offshore wind: Bard is bankrupt
Renewables International|Craig Morris|November 23, 2013
The biggest news is renewables this week was probably the bankruptcy of China's Suntech, once the largest PV firm in the world. But in Germany, the news on Friday that offshore wind farm developer Bard folded drew the most attention in Germany -- as a sign of the struggling offshore sector.
The biggest news is renewables this week was probably the bankruptcy of China's Suntech, once the largest PV firm in the world. But in Germany, the news on Friday that offshore wind farm developer Bard folded drew the most attention in Germany -- as a sign of the struggling offshore sector.
The biggest news is renewables this week was probably the bankruptcy of China's Suntech, once the largest PV firm in the world. But in Germany, the news on Friday that offshore wind farm developer Bard folded drew the most attention in Germany -- as a sign of the struggling offshore sector.
How bad was the situation at Bard? We don’t know; the last annual report is for 2011, and the company then had more than 800 millon euros in losses – the same figure reported today. Yet, the firm had less than 40 million in revenue at the time, compared to some 370 million in expenditures.
Bard Offshore 1 went online in August but was far over budget at two billion euros and several years behind schedule. The recent news that a coalition between …
... more [truncated due to possible copyright]The biggest news is renewables this week was probably the bankruptcy of China's Suntech, once the largest PV firm in the world. But in Germany, the news on Friday that offshore wind farm developer Bard folded drew the most attention in Germany -- as a sign of the struggling offshore sector.
How bad was the situation at Bard? We don’t know; the last annual report is for 2011, and the company then had more than 800 millon euros in losses – the same figure reported today. Yet, the firm had less than 40 million in revenue at the time, compared to some 370 million in expenditures.
Bard Offshore 1 went online in August but was far over budget at two billion euros and several years behind schedule. The recent news that a coalition between the CDU and SPD might reduce the offshore wind target from 10 GW to 6.5 GW for 2020 may have been the last straw for the investors still backing Bard.
The bankruptcy is bad news for ports in northern Germany, which were looking forward to strong offshore growth providing local jobs in the shipping sector that faces fierce competition, especially from Korea.
The news should not, however, be taken as a signal that the Energiewende itself is in trouble. Those of you who can read German (or don’t mind making do with a machine translation) can peruse this reader forum at a German IT publisher, which also mentioned Bard’s bankruptcy. Judging from those readers outside the renewables sector, the German public sees the offshore wind sector as a gift to conventional power firms, not a part of the citizen-driven energy transition, and hence not a major loss.