Recent claims of weakness at some geothermal energy projects may be more a matter of temporary local problems than an indication of widespread trouble, industry sources told Breaking Energy.
Despite the financial struggles reported by the high-profile Nevada Geothermal Power project, the slump is not necessarily a real indication of the industry’s health. Keep reading →
During the weeks of nasty congressional hearings and even nastier columns in the press since solar panel maker Solyndra declared bankruptcy, it’s been widely assumed that the debacle cost the government over half a billion dollars. That huge loss may not come to pass. As the guarantor of the loan the company received to build a state-of-the-art factory in Fremont, Calif., the government is on the hook for the $527 billion Solyndra ultimately borrowed.
In a world of heightened tension between Democrats and Republicans intensified by a seemingly endless fiscal crisis, the Solyndra bankruptcy has been a crisis of its time, prompting shock and escalating rounds of blame.
Republicans blame the Obama administration for heavy government spending and fiscal imprudence while Democrats point out that it was in fact the Bush administration that initially singled Solyndra out for government financing. Caught in the scapegoating is a saturated solar manufacturing sector that is struggling to stay afloat as prices for PV panels drop and renewable tax credits run out at the end of the year. Read more on renewable energy financing: After Solyndra: Renewable Energy Financing 3.0. Keep reading →
With the news today that Solyndra executives plan to plead the fifth and stay silent during hearing on the company’s fall to bankruptcy, speculations ran wild on what exactly they might be hiding.
In a move intended perhaps to subdue the uproar, Solyndra issued an official statement this afternoon. Keep reading →
The end of the summer brings with it the sense, if not always the reality, of the western world returning to work.
For a lot of people in the US today, there simply is no work, as unemployment numbers and straggling economic growth continue to make clear. President Obama gathered Congress together to announce his own plan for the war on unemployment, and his suggestions met with mixed response from the energy industry. In previous speeches, Obama has singled out the energy business as a major provider of jobs; in this one, with the exception of a passing reference to an Infrastructure Bank, he largely avoided the subject. Keep reading →
Despite three recent bankruptcies, the US solar manufacturing industry is doing just fine, according to Mark Riedy, founder and general counsel to American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) and a partner at the Mintz Levin law firm.
“I’m not worried about it and I’ve been in the renewables space since 1975, year in and year out,” Riedy said. Keep reading →
As Solyndra Inc. made its bankruptcy filing official on Tuesday afternoon, Victoria Sanville, a prominent lobbyist who helped secure hundreds of millions of dollars in government money for the California solar company, is on the market for a job. Once touted as a model of green energy, Solyndra received a $535 million federal loan guarantee from the U.S. government in 2009. The company has since laid off 1,100 workers and is now filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Solyndra is currently $783.8 million in debt and says failing any new interest from buyers, it will be forced to shut down and sell off assets within the month.
A spate of bankruptcies in US solar manufacturers is not a sign of imminent industry collapse, but the inevitable result of competition in a new and evolving market, according to industry representatives.
Solar manufacturer Solyndra announced its intention to file for bankruptcy on the final day of August, following bankruptcy filings by Evergreen Solar on August 15 and SpectraWatt on August 19. The three firms’ failures prompted a flurry of commentary about the challenges facing US solar manufacturing, and prospects for the sector’s survival. Keep reading →
The fed’s piggy bank has been the subject of much debate this summer as Democrats and Republicans clashed over the deficit and budget planning.
No less controversial is federal financing of renewable energy projects, part of a strategy to both reduce national dependence on foreign oil and limit greenhouse gas emissions as part of addressing the threat of global climate change. But with federally-backed companies like solar manufacturer Solyndra recently filing for bankruptcy, some are saying that the government is making bad bets and investing in the wrong places. Keep reading →
Following its controversial decision after the Fukushima crisis in Japan to shut down all of its nuclear power generation, Germany has been busy bolstering its renewables portfolio.
General contractor hybridsolar AG will add 60.2 MW of capacity to the 24.3 MW FinowTower solar plant, located at the former Eberswalde/Finowfurt military airport in the district of Schorfheide, northeast of Berlin, bringing the plant’s total capacity to 84.5 MW and making it the largest solar power plant in Europe. Keep reading →
