The Wind Turns Against GE’s Clean Energy Bet

The Wind Turns Against GE’s Clean Energy Bet - Corporate Intelligence - WSJ:

General Electric GE -4.06% Co. shares are down sharply this morning, despite headlines of a 16% increase in first quarter net income. One reason why is a big downdraft in demand for the company’s wind power technology and other energy production hardware.
GE, under CEO Jeff Immelt, has invested significant financial and human capital in an effort to expand its share of markets for clean (or cleaner) energy technology such as wind turbines. The company’s bet was that government policies aimed at cutting carbon dioxide emissions would lead to rising demand for energy generation systems that didn’t involve burning coal — technology GE could supply at a healthy profit.
Right now, however, demand for GE’s renewable energy gear has hit a downdraft. GE said in a presentation this morning that revenues for its “power and water” sector, which includes its clean energy systems businesses, fell by 26%, and profits in that segment dropped by 39%. Weakness in Europe (revenue down 22%) didn’t help. “Wind” revenue fell by 53%, GE said.

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