Germany to Cut 6,000 jobs in Wind Sector in Coming Years

Wind and solar advocates often like to pretend that these sources of energy are good for the economy because they create jobs, but the German-Spanish wind power company Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy has recently announced it will lay off thousands of workers in their wind energy sector.

According to Recharge News:

“SGRE in November announced plans to reduce up to 6,000 jobs across 24 countries.”

“The German job losses will affect mostly employees in Hamburg and Bremen, and follow on from cuts in the US and Canada.”

Why will all these jobs be cut? It’s due in part to increased global competition and also because the German government has slightly scaled back the generous guaranteed profits for wind developers by implementing an auction-based system.

According to Clean Energy Wire:

“The switch to auctions does not change the principle to support renewables expansion financially as such and retains many elements of earlier EEG stages. Operators continue to have the right to have their installations connected to the grid to transmit and distribute their electricity. Grid operators have to provide appropriate grid capacities or otherwise pay compensation if turbines are throttled down.”

“Just like under the old support system, operators sell their product directly on the market. They continue to receive a premium covering the difference between wholesale power prices and guaranteed remuneration. The major difference is that under the old system, this “market premium” was set by the state. Now it is determined by the operator’s offer in what the BNetzA calls a “pay as bid” principle.”

In short, the wind industry is still getting a sweetheart deal in Germany, but it’s slightly less sweet than before. Even so, this has been enough to shake up the industry and prompt thousands of layoffs.

So what will happen to all the so-called green jobs in Minnesota once the federal wind production tax credits (PTC) expire?

Probably the same thing.

And that’s why the phrase “sustainable development” that is often touted to promote the wind industry is so disingenuous. If wind power was actually sustainable development, it wouldn’t need to be subsidized in the first place.