Solyndra, a California based solar panel manufacturer, filed for bankruptcy on August 31, following in the footsteps of Evergreen Solar, based in Massachusetts, and SpectraWatt, based in New York[ii]. According to GTM Research, a renewable energy market analysis firm in Boston, these bankruptcies and the closing of BP Solar’s plant in Frederick, Maryland last year removes about one-fifth of the solar panel manufacturing capacity in the United States.[iii] Solyndra will be laying off 1,100 workers[iv], the largest to date in a solar firm bankruptcy. Solyndra’s size was aided by loan guarantees from the U.S. Department of Energy totaling $535 million of U.S. taxpayers’ money. The cause of Solyndra’s demise, like that of other solar companies, is due to Chinese solar panels, subsidized by the government, undercutting the global solar market.
Read the rest of the article at Canada Free Press
No comments:
Post a Comment