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https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=30112 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=30112 If you can't get a loan to build wind farms, why wa

• jamez1 9y ago
  Where did I say anything about loans? You do realize renewable energy is subsidized by RECs, who wouldn't want to add capacity when the government will pay the shortfall! They aren't profitable on their own, and barely turn a profit when you look at the full life cycle of these businesses due to the maintenance/depreciation costs which are hidden when you look at pure operating profit. Invenergy has huge natural gas generation and seems to want to sell every wind farm they build. I don't know why you think they're an example of a profitable wind farm operator, there isn't any evidence that they make money off it. Alstom makes nothing off it's wind either.
  • dpierce9 9y ago
    C&I? PPAs are effectively the collateral for project finance in these cases so you can't build one of these things unless you have a PPA in place (unless you are vertically integrated or running a pilot). A solid percentage of new wind is being built in states without RECs (also the government doesn't pay RECs, ratepayers do). The PTC is being phased out but it is gravy at this point. Wind is profitable without subsidies in a lot of places (and the government subsidizes nuclear [insurer of last resort] and coal [socializing negative externalities]). Regarding margin, coal and nuclear also barely make money. Natural gas steam barely makes money. CT peakers make high margins when operational but they are barely operational. None of this is surprising. Electricity is a commodity business (for IPPs at least), you sort of expect razor thin margins.