Wind industry downturn hits Alliant
From a post on Tom Content’s blog on JSonline.com:
As if falling power sales and record cold July weather weren’t enough challenges for Alliant Energy Corp., the company’s wind-power construction business is also seeing sales slide.
A downturn in the wind power industry led Alliant to reduce its earnings forecast Thursday for RMT, its Madison-based wind power construction business, for 2009.
Alliant had said RMT would bring in 12 cents per share of profit, but now is forecasting profit of 3 cents, company executives said on a conference call after the utility posted lower-than-expected earnings.
“At the same time the utilities were experiencing negative weather and economic impacts on sales, the wind development market in the U.S. has slowed to a crawl, leading us to revise RMT’s prospects for the year as well,” said Bill Harvey, chairman, president and chief executive.
The American Wind Energy Association is forecasting that new wind installed capacity will fall 40% in 2009, compared with last year, and General Electric Co.’s energy infrastructure division is projecting a 50% decline, Harvey said.
RMT works as an engineering, construction and development firm on wind power projects. It built the state’s largest wind farm, Blue Sky Green Field, for Milwaukee-based We Energies, last year.
