Posted on 09/20/2012 8:57:02 PM PDT by smokingfrog
Wind energy equipment manufacturer Siemens Energy Inc. will lay off 615 workers in Iowa, Kansas, and Florida in part because Congress has not renewed a tax credit for wind energy, the company said Tuesday.
Siemens said the biggest job losses will come in Fort Madison, Iowa, where 407 workers at a wind-turbine blade factory will be out of work. About 220 workers will be retained at the plant to support ongoing operations, spokeswoman Melanie Forbrick said in a statement.
About 146 workers are affected in Hutchinson, Kan., leaving 152 still working. In Orlando, Fla., about 62 workers will lose their jobs and about 150 will remain.
The company blamed difficult market conditions due to lack of congressional action on a wind energy tax credit as well as increased use of natural gas-fired power plants. It said it has worked for the past 10 months to address the uncertainties but needed to adjust its work force until demand for turbines returns.
"As a result, following the rapid ramp-up of the wind power industry over the past five years, the industry is facing a significant drop in new orders, and this has an unfortunate consequence on employment in this segment of the power industry," the company said in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at abclocal.go.com ...
Obama doesn't plan to let people own their own homes and ground..he will decide what you can have...
if he is re elected America as we knew it will be NO MORE..
just look at the damage he has done in three plus years..
COAL MINE ON YOUR PROPERTY?? AND YOU THINK THE EPA AND
HUSSEIN OBAMA THUGS ARE GOING TO LET YOU EXTRACT THAT COAL..
Solyndra: An expensive fraud just like Obama.
1970....the year I entered the US Coast Guard.
“just look at the damage he has done in three plus years..”
That is why I’m voting for Paul Ryan...and the other guy.
The time it takes to bring energy sources online is mostly measured in decades.
The two "major" parties have treated energy policy as a political football, putting their own power ahead the sort of long-range planning necessary to guarantee our energy supplies - and thereby our prosperity, our productivity and our national defense - off into the future.
And so, until we elect a whole new breed of cat, you can expect our slide into oblivion to continue to its inevitable conclusion.
Romney and Ryan are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
--James Freeman Clarke“A politician thinks of the next election. A statesman, of the next generation.”
Transistors were invented in the latter stages of WWII. Where do you come off with this 1970s crap? Transistor radios were very popular in the early 1960s. I am not sure when the first IC was invented but solid state semi-conductors were invented a long time before 1970.
Applying pressure to Congress? And Obama?
“A politician thinks of the next election. A statesman, of the next generation.”
—James Freeman Clarke
Excellent...
They understood in 1948....
I can’t load this link, we have restrictions here in Afghanistan. Streaming and certain website content are blocked.
Transistors were not common until the late 50s.
Outside of the radio they weren’t widely used for much.
It was the IC in 1958 that revolutionized things.
Even with the IC we would not see this first calculators until 1970
So relatively speaking in 1970 these things were just becoming relatively widespread in use.
As I understand it, the Production Tax Credit (PTC) is a tax credit paid to wind energy producers.
And right now, the PTC is killing the wind turbine industry!
See, when a turbine is erected, if the PTC is in effect, the producer will receive PTC benefits based on the turbine's output for years to come. But, right now, the PTC is gone. So, new turbines can't get the PTC and, because producers believe the PTC *could* be revived, they are holding off erecting any new turbines.
Wind energy proponents claim it doesn't need subsidies to be viable. So, LET THE PTC DIE. Then, when producers believe [1] the PTC is truly dead and [2] unsubsidized wind energy makes business sense, they'll begin erecting new turbines again.
But, until the PTC is DEAD, it will continue to be the millstone hanging around the neck of the wind turbine industry.
(DungeonMaster, a wind energy wonk, will tell me if I'm wrong.)
I think the PTC is too high but that's more of a gut feeling than anything. The intent was to give wind power a boost but at this point I would think the improvements in technology would allow for a reduction in the PTC.
How do you figure?
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