Thursday, July 14, 2011

GE's CEO Says Wind Power Doesn't Need Government Help

First it's Bob Janjuah hinting at incipient bullishness.
Now Jeff "Rentseeker" Immelt is talking about life without subsidies.
"Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria"
From MIT's Technology Reveiw:

Although U.S. subsidies are due to end next year, GE plans to increase wind turbine production. 
GE Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt is betting that wind power will be able to compete with conventional sources of energy, without government help.

At a company meeting held today at a gas turbine factory in Greenville, South Carolina, Immelt told employees that he's ordered the company to increase production capacity of wind turbines. He said that costs have come down to the point at which the technology will be able to compete in many areas of the world without subsidies. He seemed confident that wind turbine orders will increase, even though the valuable production tax credits, which have driven a boom in wind turbine installation in the United States, are set to expire next year....MORE
See also:
"And Now for Something Completely Different: Natural Gas Engine Maker "We Don't Need $100 Oil or U.S. Help" (WPRT)"
...And if three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in singin 
a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. They may think it's an organization. 
And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day, I said fifty people a day walking 
in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out.  And friends they may thinks 
it's a movement.
-Arlo Guthrie