Good news from Spain, where a renewable energy company has just launched the world’s largest and highly innovative solar tower near Seville, powering 10,000 homes. Generating 20MW, the "PS20" will contribute to Spain’s impressive peaks of 40% renewable energy vibrating through their national grid.

Recent news from the UK isn’t quite so uplifting.

Oil companies withdrawing investment from renewables
In a cycle that has repeated itself several times over the last 40 years, oil companies who have invested more in greenwash PR than they ever have into sustainable energy have pulled out of some major renewables projects.

In March, oil giant Shell announced (or, whispered) it was pulling out of all its wind, solar and hydro projects despite years of vast sweeping claims about securing a new clean energy future with renewables. Following this, BP has cut 620 jobs from BP solar, only months after a billboard campaign promoting a sustainable energy mix.

So, the oil companies have shouted a lot about investing in clean energy, backing it up by planning renewables projects, and then quietly cancelled the plans hoping everyone will remember the ads but forget to ask where the wind farms are.

Production industry going into decline
Last week Vestas, the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer, said it’s shutting down its plant on the Isle of Wight. A drop in demand has seen the company struggle over the last year and will result in the loss of 700 jobs from the UK plant which makes turbine blades.

There’s been a glimmer of hope from budget measures to support of wind power but it’s unlikely that will stimulate the market quickly enough for Vestas to justify keeping the plant open. 

Meanwhile Iberdrola, which own Scottish Power, has halved its renewables investments over the last year. Overseas, Siemens is to scale back 400 jobs in its Danish wind energy division.

Wind farm replaced with nuclear power station?
Last week the Guardian reported that a highly efficient wind farm near Kirksanton in Cumbria could be dismantled to make way for a nuclear power station. It’s a smack in the face for renewables from a government who should know it’s already running the risk of missing its renewables target.  Destroying perfectly working existing capacity just doesn’t seem to make sense.

And what’s really offended local wind supporters is the speed and ease with which planning was granted to the nuclear power station, in marked contrast to the rigorous and overcomplicated process which applicants for wind turbines must go through.

So what’s the problem?
Aside from the bizarre nuclear announcement, much of the above seems recession related. To be fair to BP, its cutbacks are a reaction to a drop in demand for its renewable products. It’s also planning to scale back oil and gas exploration over the next year, and has seen its profits drop to a third of what they were last year (don’t worry, BP still made over £2 billion in the first quarter of 2009). But this seems a convenient excuse to cancel all renewable plans having talked about becoming a leader in the field and discovering a life “Beyond Petroleum.”

Vestas is suffering from a lack of demand that seems to be mostly down to a reduction in investment opportunities, as there are less funds available. The weakening pound makes building a wind farm considerably more expensive and therefore harder to justify.

Last year Vestas expanded their operations in China - following the route of so many manufacturers. There have been no signs of closure there, so as with the case above of solar in Spain, the worldwide renewables industry is looking positive. It's just our home turf that could be falling behind.

While these setbacks have been portrayed by the media as damning for the renewables industry overall, in fact it’s just following the same trends as every other industry. And it hasn’t been propped up by huge government bail outs. If the measures announced in the recent budget materialises, the renewables industry shouldn’t need bailing out.

So it’s not good news, but we can’t expect weekly reports on joy and success in the current financial situation. What’s important is that there are reasons to be optimistic, and reasons to carry on supporting renewable with all our vigour. The industry can’t be expected to buck all trends and find finance where there is none, but it doesn’t spell unmitigated doom and gloom either.

An who needs big oil companies anyway? Ho ho.

Green Energy Republic