Reality Sucks -- Is Anyone Paying Attention? September 21, 2021

From Robert Rapier talking about surging price of copper used extensively by renewable energy companies:

Norwegian oil and gas company Equinor (formerly Statoil)—now a major developer of wind farms— has begun lowering investor expectations on its renewable projects. The company recently dropped its guidance from 6-10% returns in 2020 to 4-8% this year. Denmark’s Ørsted A/S (formerly DONG Energy), the world’s largest offshore wind farm developer, said returns on capital employed fell from 11% in the first quarter of 2020 to 7.5% a year later. Danish competitor Vestas Wind Systems saw returns fall from 17.4% to 12.2% over the same period. 

If this trend continues unchecked, many renewable projects might become financially unfeasible for all but the biggest companies with the deepest pockets.