Bluewater spokesman Jim Lanard is quoted in the News Journal story (that Charlie has linked to below) as saying that he is optimistic that, “…we’ll find the necessary investors to continue the process of developing the relationship with Delmarva Power and building our offshore wind project in Delaware” among other varieties of “happy talk”.
Now let me get this straight, Babcock and Bown, the Australian company who owns them, is basically bankrupt, being kept alive by their bankers long enough to liquidate their assets; what was described in the Australian press as a “zombie company”. In what I have heard is a somewhat difficult credit environment for solvent companies, Lanard is saying that there are investors likely to loan them somewhere north of $500 million to build this project which is probably a money loser at its scaled down level. Not only that, he says that they are continuing, “to pursue other regional offshore wind ventures” in places such as MD and NJ. They must be eying the cell next to the one reserved for Bernie Madoff. We are also to be reassured that there are damages if the company does not meet various milestones. There is no money, they are broke!!! I have considered this to be a con job since the beginning.
This is a startup company and has never, never, never built an offshore wind farm. This Lanard seems to be very talented in his PR job. If I am to believe that he is sincere, I am not sure to think of him as:
Kevin Bacon in Animal House, “Remain Calm! All is well!” as pandemonium erupts in the street
or better yet, The Black Knight in Monty Python and The Holy Grail
King Arthur: Now stand aside, worthy adversary.
The Black Knight: ‘Tis but a scratch.
King Arthur: A scratch?! Your arm’s off.
The Black Knight: No it isn’t.
King Arthur: Then what’s that then.
The Black Knight: I’ve had worse.
On December 2, I reported the dire financial shape of Bluewater Wind’s parent company on WDEL (occasionally, they let me to fill in for Mascitti or Jensen). At that time their stock price had dropped about 99% to something around 25 cents and trading on their stock was suspended at their request as they were trying to work something out with their lenders. At that time I said that this was “stick it with a fork” done.
How much more money and time needs to be spent on this scam? Let Delmarva out of this so that they can arrange for enough renewables, that are really likely to be available, to avoid the threatened fines.
Another blogger claims that Bluewater is not really owned by Babcock. Instead he said that it was owned by a separate company, Babcock and Brown Infrastructure. I already looked into this and it was not accurate then and is still not now, but it still comes up. I confirmed this with Babcock’s US spokesman, Matt Dallas weeks ago. Even if this red herring were true, would it be that much better? Infrastructure is not bankrupt but is trading at 9 centsA per share down from A$1.37 a year ago.
I have been advocating against this deal since the beginning. I have no problem with renewable energy so long as it does not disadvantage American companies in the global marketplace. Offshore wind though is just way too expensive. Onshore wind appears ok as long as you build enough traditional generation for when the wind is not blowing. But then why do you need the windmills? Is any of this feasible without government subsidies such as carbon credits?
Nuclear is a better option. If we are going to be a French style socialist country, shouldn’t we adopt their good ideas as well as their failures? Most of their electricity is generated by nuclear plants and they are building more.
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