Seven years ago today, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA, or the Recovery Act) into law and created the Section 1705 Loan Guarantee Program. The Recovery Act was designed to spur economic growth while creating new jobs and saving existing ones, similar to New Deal programs like the Works Progress Administration… Keep reading →
To borrow a phrase from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”, we are not dead yet. The media has picked up on the A123 Systems Chapter 11 filing and has extrapolated it to mean that somehow energy storage is another failed Department of Energy (DOE) technology. In fact, the industry feels fine.
First, A123 is not dead; they are restructuring and continue operations. They also have 90 megawatts of energy storage up and running worldwide with a number of other projects in process. Roland Berger just released a report on the projected market for lithium ion batteries and the top five players included the likes of LG, Panasonic, Sanyo-and A123 Systems. Recognizing this opportunity, a number of suitors have lined up in a bidding war for A123, which the bankruptcy judge called “the popular girl at the dance.” Not exactly demise. Keep reading →
