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10/20/08

The Australian: The wind shifts for renewable energy - by Tom Wright

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The wind shifts for renewable energy - by Tom Wright

The prospects of renewable-energy companies soared with oil prices, but the global credit crunch and the easing of energy costs have brought them back to earth with a thud. Stronger players, such as Iberdrola of Spain, are buying wind farms from cash-strapped rivals. With banks reluctant to lend and their stock prices tumbling, many green-energy concerns are struggling to find the long-term funding they need to expand in a capital-intensive industry. In the past three months, global renewable-energy stocks tracked by New Energy Finance, a London-based consultancy, have dropped about 45 per cent, compared with a 23 per cent decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average over the same period. The sector's problems have been compounded by the skid in oil prices to below $US70 a barrel last week from more than $US147 in July. The sudden reversal in crude prices has removed -- at least temporarily -- a key rationale for investors to pump billions of dollars into alternative fuels, industry analysts say.

The result: At least in the short term, a slew of projects from palm-oil-based biodiesel plants in Indonesia and Malaysia to wind farms and solar projects across the U.S. and Europe may not be able to get funding.

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