Trajan
conscientia mille testes
Solyndra, a co. I am very familiar with is featured here
..
Short back story- In 2005 they got VC money and a huuuge loan guarantee from Booosh. They built plant #1 and got going in early 07. They have NEVER made a dime.
Some 20 months ago as obama was just taking office, they told him there was another loan guarantee to build out Solyndra ( the results of which I have been in and can be seen from the Nimitz Freeway- 880) to fit his Green Tech. revolution ( he has given guarantees for others too, named in the article) ....he ignored market forces which were very apparent, ( china had basically beaten us to the punch) and they also convinced him , that a technology breakthrough is just around the corner, the thin films route, so they were going to build with that in mind as to tool emplaced etc..
Meanwhile the Chinese chose a technology, ( the correct one) and has been building for several years, manned their battle stations and now own the market for solar powered technology, thin films in not cost effective, needing that leap to make it as efficient as to whats currently manufactured now , there by not viable as a product even if its mass manufactured.
So, what have we left? A constituency, hope and loan guarantees to be made good .
( a big bunch of money we will be feeding their creditors and the co. directly very shortly. to keep it alive). Bollocks .
IF any politician no matter the party even attempts to shut down any further subsidies to Solyndra or its sisters in the same losing bus. the youre killing jobs, sending jobs to china crap no matter how foolish, fact factually inaccurate or how badly keeping them open runs against common sense, it wont matter, they are now votes and its "Green man Green" ..welcome to the trough.
Silicon Valleys Solar Innovators Retool to Catch Up to China
FREMONT, Calif. A few years ago, Silicon Valley start-ups like Solyndra, Nanosolar and MiaSolé dreamed of transforming the economics of solar power by reinventing the technology used to make solar panels and deeply cutting the cost of production.
Founded by veterans of the Valleys chip and hard-drive industries, these companies attracted billions of dollars in venture capital investment on the hope that their advanced thin film technology would make them the Intels and Apples of the global solar industry.
But as the companies finally begin mass production Solyndra just flipped the switch on a $733 million factory here last month they are finding that the economics of the industry have already been transformed, by the Chinese. Chinese manufacturers, heavily subsidized by their own government and relying on vast economies of scale, have helped send the price of conventional solar panels plunging and grabbed market share far more quickly than anyone anticipated.
As a result, the California companies, once so confident that they could outmaneuver the competition, are scrambling to retool their strategies and find niches in which they can thrive.
The solar market has changed so much its almost enough to make you want to cry, said Joseph Laia, chief executive of MiaSolé. We have spent a lot more time and energy focusing on costs a year or two before we thought we had to.
The challenges come despite extensive public and private support for the Silicon Valley companies. Solyndra, one of the biggest firms, has raised more than $1 billion from investors. The federal government provided a $535 million loan guarantee for the companys new robot-run, 300,000-square-foot solar panel factory, known as Fab 2.
The true engine of economic growth will always be companies like Solyndra, President Obama said in May during an appearance at the then-unfinished factory. But during the year that Solyndras plant was under construction, competition from the Chinese helped drive the price of solar modules down 40 percent. Solyndra rushed to start cranking out panels on Sept. 13, two months ahead of schedule, and it has increased marketing efforts to make the case to customers that Solyndras more expensive panels are cost-effective when installation charges are factored in.
conclusion at-
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/13/business/energy-environment/13solar.html?src=me&ref=business
Short back story- In 2005 they got VC money and a huuuge loan guarantee from Booosh. They built plant #1 and got going in early 07. They have NEVER made a dime.
Some 20 months ago as obama was just taking office, they told him there was another loan guarantee to build out Solyndra ( the results of which I have been in and can be seen from the Nimitz Freeway- 880) to fit his Green Tech. revolution ( he has given guarantees for others too, named in the article) ....he ignored market forces which were very apparent, ( china had basically beaten us to the punch) and they also convinced him , that a technology breakthrough is just around the corner, the thin films route, so they were going to build with that in mind as to tool emplaced etc..
Meanwhile the Chinese chose a technology, ( the correct one) and has been building for several years, manned their battle stations and now own the market for solar powered technology, thin films in not cost effective, needing that leap to make it as efficient as to whats currently manufactured now , there by not viable as a product even if its mass manufactured.
So, what have we left? A constituency, hope and loan guarantees to be made good .
( a big bunch of money we will be feeding their creditors and the co. directly very shortly. to keep it alive). Bollocks .
IF any politician no matter the party even attempts to shut down any further subsidies to Solyndra or its sisters in the same losing bus. the youre killing jobs, sending jobs to china crap no matter how foolish, fact factually inaccurate or how badly keeping them open runs against common sense, it wont matter, they are now votes and its "Green man Green" ..welcome to the trough.
Silicon Valleys Solar Innovators Retool to Catch Up to China
FREMONT, Calif. A few years ago, Silicon Valley start-ups like Solyndra, Nanosolar and MiaSolé dreamed of transforming the economics of solar power by reinventing the technology used to make solar panels and deeply cutting the cost of production.
Founded by veterans of the Valleys chip and hard-drive industries, these companies attracted billions of dollars in venture capital investment on the hope that their advanced thin film technology would make them the Intels and Apples of the global solar industry.
But as the companies finally begin mass production Solyndra just flipped the switch on a $733 million factory here last month they are finding that the economics of the industry have already been transformed, by the Chinese. Chinese manufacturers, heavily subsidized by their own government and relying on vast economies of scale, have helped send the price of conventional solar panels plunging and grabbed market share far more quickly than anyone anticipated.
As a result, the California companies, once so confident that they could outmaneuver the competition, are scrambling to retool their strategies and find niches in which they can thrive.
The solar market has changed so much its almost enough to make you want to cry, said Joseph Laia, chief executive of MiaSolé. We have spent a lot more time and energy focusing on costs a year or two before we thought we had to.
The challenges come despite extensive public and private support for the Silicon Valley companies. Solyndra, one of the biggest firms, has raised more than $1 billion from investors. The federal government provided a $535 million loan guarantee for the companys new robot-run, 300,000-square-foot solar panel factory, known as Fab 2.
The true engine of economic growth will always be companies like Solyndra, President Obama said in May during an appearance at the then-unfinished factory. But during the year that Solyndras plant was under construction, competition from the Chinese helped drive the price of solar modules down 40 percent. Solyndra rushed to start cranking out panels on Sept. 13, two months ahead of schedule, and it has increased marketing efforts to make the case to customers that Solyndras more expensive panels are cost-effective when installation charges are factored in.
conclusion at-
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/13/business/energy-environment/13solar.html?src=me&ref=business