Europe’s wind industry is in its death throes. Denmark’s Ørsted’s share price plummeted 25% late last year, and after slashing dividends to shareholders was forced to write $billions off the projected value of its US offshore projects, and its share price is still heading south.
Europe’s turbine manufacturers are bleeding cash and their shares will never recover the value of their glory days.
Then there are the local battles. Such as the recent decision by Slovakia’s Public Health Office that prevents wind power outfits from spearing turbines within a 3 km radius of any inhabited area. Predictably enough, the wind industry’s propaganda wing went into meltdown at the government’s temerity to protect the right of Slovaks to sleep comfortably in their very own homes.
Wind turbines face another bureaucratic hurdle, potentially delaying projects
Spectator Slovakia
Editorial
19 January 2024
Slovakia seems less likely to get new wind power plants any time soon after investors were presented with a new bureaucratic hurdle.
The Public Health Office has issued new guidelines for the assessment of noise and vibration at wind power plants. Plants with 150-metre high towers must now be located at least 3 kilometres from inhabited areas. The guidelines apply to all the projects that are currently in the permitting phase; these are collectively worth €1.4 billion.
The Economy Ministry says it wants to negotiate with the office to remove the condition, saying it represents a barrier to the development of wind energy.
According to Ján Lacko from the Slovak Association of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Industry (SAPI), no country in the EU has such strict criteria when it comes to the location of wind power plants. He points to Austria, which has hundreds of such wind turbines, some located as little as 600 metres from the nearest houses. Slovakia currently has just five.
The office did not respond to questions on the topic.
Spectator Slovakia
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