Another solar company hits dark times

Fox News:

When Solyndra went bankrupt and cost taxpayers up to $530 million, the Obama administration's green energy loan program was subjected to congressional hearings and became an election-year issue. Now, another solar panel company may be headed for a similar fate.

SoloPower, which makes thin-film solar panels at a new plant in Portland, Ore., opened Sept. 27 with an upbeat ribbon-cutting ceremony. Local and state politicians gushed about the company eventually operating four production lines and creating 450 well-paid green jobs.

Just a few months later, those predictions, and SoloPower's future, are on shaky ground.

The first production line was never completed. In January, the company had a round of layoffs. SoloPower won't say how many of its 60 employees received pink slips.

A management shakeup soon followed -- gone are the chief executive, president and chief technology officer. The company is now trying to raise money by selling some of its equipment through a third party and is attempting to restructure its $197 million federal loan guarantee.

Many are not surprised.

"What we're seeing in Oregon, what we're seeing in California and what we're seeing in Washington, D.C., is eventually the money runs out, and these programs go with them," said Todd Myer, author of "Eco-Fads: How the Rise of Trendy Environmentalism is Harming the Environment."

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China's SunTech has recently gone bankrupt after missing a $541 million bond payment.  The economics of solar energy just do not appear profitable.  There continues to be more supply than demand and state subsidies only encourage the mess.