Is the energy sector on the verge of going bust?
By Susan Wilson
Central banks worldwide are claiming that the financial crisis is over and it’s time to move back into a positive frame of mind, but Karl W. Miller, a senior energy executive and institutional investor says otherwise. According to Mr. Miller, we haven’t hit the bottom yet, especially in the energy sector.
Miller, who has worked in the energy sector for decades, says that the banking industry is not through going bust and as a result of that the energy sector and yes that includes “renewable” energy is going to hit the skids as well. This is coming from a man who “has built, restructured and managed energy businesses for major public energy companies on several continents, including PG&E Corporation, Electricite de France, El Paso Energy, Enron Corporation and JPMorgan Chase.”
According to Miller, “a majority of the financial institutions can’t purchase or operate critical energy infrastructure assets so desperately needed.” Without the infrastructure, there is no way to really utilize all of the renewable energy assets being built and sold at the moment. As an example, Miller uses T. Boone Pickens who has wind turbines but no place to send them.
The “credit crunch” is supposedly over and the government is pouring money into “renewable energy” to create the next economic boom, but there won’t be a boom until we build infrastructure that is able to encompass the transmission lines, natural gas and oil pipelines that are needed to make this investment in green energy workable.
Smart grids and additional transmission lines all require funding. Right now, “the financial institutions can’t purchase or operate critical energy infrastructure assets so desperately needed.”
To read the daily media, you would think that renewable energy in the US is poised to take off. Plans to build or refurbish plants for electric vehicles, next generation batteries and capacitors, biofuels, solar cells, and nanotechnology are being implemented across the country. What happens when all of them are up and running? What happens when the current infrastructure suddenly has to accommodate new technologies and needs and can’t?
Miller foresees a disaster about to happen and we don’t even realize it’s coming.
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