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Post by curiousgeorge on Aug 16, 2011 22:02:39 GMT
And a really Big Bite from the CA wind farms. It seems they get a pass on fines for killing endangered eagles. California supports roughly 2,500 golden eagles. The state's largest wind farms kill, on average, more than 80 eagles per year. But the state is set to triple wind capacity in the coming years as it tries to become the first state in the nation to generate 33 percent of its electricity from clean energy sources by 2020. Pine Tree is one of the wind farms in Kern County and is operated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. According to an internal DWP bird and bat mortality report for the year ending June 2010, bird fatality rates were "relatively high" at Pine Tree compared to 45 other wind facilities nationwide. The facility’s annual death rate per turbine is three times higher for golden eagles than at Altamont.
"Politics plays a huge role here," Smallwood said. "Our leaders want this power source so they're giving, for a time being, a pass to the wind industry. If you or I killed an eagle, we're looking at major consequences."
Smallwood and others say it is almost inconceivable the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which enforces the U.S. Endangered Species Act, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, hasn't acted.
"There's a big, big hypocrisy here," Sue Hammer of Tehachapi Wildlife Rehab in Kern County said. "If I shoot an eagle, it's a $10,000 fine and/or a vacation of one to five years in a federal pen of my choice."
She's not far off from the reality.
In 2009, Exxon pleaded guilty to causing the deaths of about 85 migratory birds in five states that came into contact with crude oil in uncovered waste tanks. The fine for this was $600,000.
Likewise, PacifiCorp, an Oregon utility, owed $10.5 million in fines, restitution and improvements to their equipment after 232 eagles were killed by running into power lines in Wyoming.
Read more: www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/08/16/energy-in-america-dead-birds-unintended-consequence-wind-power-development/#ixzz1VEQVVFk6
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Post by astroposer777 on Aug 17, 2011 14:44:48 GMT
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Post by curiousgeorge on Aug 17, 2011 20:52:15 GMT
Evergreen is not the only solar panel company that is failing or has failed. The reasons given for failure are many, but boil down to a poor business model and ignoring the Realities of manufacturing and competition. In manufacturing, cool state of the art technology is simply not enough. The same holds true for alternative fuels, and other "green" enterprises. They think their cool stuff is all they need. Evergreen Solar is certainly not the only company to suffer financially from the onslaught of falling panel prices, which have already fallen 20 percent in the first half of this year. Germany-based Solon this week said it is closing an Arizona panel factory and will trim its workforce in Germany, and BP Solar shuttered its panel factory in Maryland last year. Germany's Q-Cells earlier this month warned of a large quarterly loss amid a restructuring to lower costs.
All companies paying more to operate in countries with high costs will likely face the same fate, say analysts. In that way, Evergreen's slide was a product of both industry trends and its own particular problems.
Read more: news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20093503-54/harsh-lessons-from-evergreen-solar-flame-out/#ixzz1VJxm9y7h
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Post by curiousgeorge on Aug 19, 2011 20:38:26 GMT
What happened to all those promised Green jobs? They went to China apparently. www.nytimes.com/2011/08/19/us/19bcgreen.htmlFlanked by a cadre of local political leaders, Mayor Chuck Reed of San Jose used a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a solar power company last week to talk up the promise of the green economy.
Mr. Reed called the opening of the new headquarters of SolFocus, which produces large, free-standing solar panels, an “enormously important” development for the city’s economy.
“Clean technology is the next wave of innovation that Silicon Valley needs to capture,” the mayor said, noting that the San Jose City Council had committed to increasing the number of “green jobs” in the city to 25,000 by 2022. San Jose currently has 4,350 such jobs, according to city officials.
But SolFocus assembles its solar panels in China, and the new San Jose headquarters employs just 90 people.
In the Bay Area as in much of the country, the green economy is not proving to be the job-creation engine that many politicians envisioned. President Obama once pledged to create five million green jobs over 10 years. Gov. Jerry Brown promised 500,000 clean-technology jobs statewide by the end of the decade. But the results so far suggest such numbers are a pipe dream.
“I won’t say I’m not frustrated,” said Van Jones, an Oakland activist who served briefly as Mr. Obama’s green-jobs czar before resigning under fire after conservative critics said he had signed a petition accusing the Bush administration of deliberately allowing the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a claim Mr. Jones denies.
A study released in July by the non-partisan Brookings Institution found clean-technology jobs accounted for just 2 percent of employment nationwide and only slightly more — 2.2 percent — in Silicon Valley. Rather than adding jobs, the study found, the sector actually lost 492 positions from 2003 to 2010 in the South Bay, where the unemployment rate in June was 10.5 percent.
Federal and state efforts to stimulate creation of green jobs have largely failed, government records show. Two years after it was awarded $186 million in federal stimulus money to weatherize drafty homes, California has spent only a little over half that sum and has so far created the equivalent of just 538 full-time jobs in the last quarter, according to the State Department of Community Services and Development.
The weatherization program was initially delayed for seven months while the federal Department of Labor determined prevailing wage standards for the industry. Even after that issue was resolved, the program never really caught on as homeowners balked at the upfront costs.
“Companies and public policy officials really overestimated how much consumers care about energy efficiency,” said Sheeraz Haji, chief executive of the Cleantech Group, a market research firm. “People care about their wallet and the comfort of their home, but it’s not a sexy thing.”
Job training programs intended for the clean economy have also failed to generate big numbers. The Economic Development Department in California reports that $59 million in state, federal and private money dedicated to green jobs training and apprenticeship has led to only 719 job placements — the equivalent of an $82,000 subsidy for each one.
“The demand’s just not there to take this to scale,” said Fred Lucero, project manager at Richmond BUILD, which teaches students the basics of carpentry and electrical work in addition to specifically “green” trades like solar installation.
Richmond BUILD has found jobs for 159 of the 221 students who have entered its clean-energy program — but only 35 graduates are employed with solar and energy efficiency companies, with the balance doing more traditional building trades work. Mr. Lucero said he considered each placement a success because his primary mission was to steer residents of the city’s most violent neighborhoods away from a life of crime.
At Asian Neighborhood Design, a 38-year old nonprofit in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco, training programs for green construction jobs have remained small because the number of available jobs is small. The group accepted just 16 of 200 applicants for the most recent 14-week cycle, making it harder to get into than the University of California. The group’s training director, Jamie Brewster, said he was able to find jobs for 10 trainees within two weeks of their completing the program.
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Post by stranger on Aug 19, 2011 22:05:08 GMT
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Post by trbixler on Aug 20, 2011 16:03:34 GMT
Timing is impeccable, with a little effort the U.S. will be in full recession. "Getting ready for a wave of coal-plant shutdowns" "Industry groups such the Edison Electric Institute, which represents investor-owned utilities, and the American Legislative Exchange Council have dubbed the coming rules “EPA’s Regulatory Train Wreck.” The regulations, they say, will cost utilities up to $129 billion and force them to retire one-fifth of coal capacity. Given that coal provides 45 percent of the country’s power, that means higher electric bills, more blackouts and fewer jobs. The doomsday scenario has alarmed Republicans in the House, who have been scrambling to block the measures. Environmental groups retort that the rules will bring sizeable public health benefits, and that industry groups have been exaggerating the costs of environmental regulations since they were first created." www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/getting-ready-for-a-wave-of-coal-plant-shutdowns/2011/08/19/gIQAzkZ0PJ_blog.html
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Post by curiousgeorge on Aug 20, 2011 20:00:29 GMT
Timing is impeccable, with a little effort the U.S. will be in full recession. "Getting ready for a wave of coal-plant shutdowns" "Industry groups such the Edison Electric Institute, which represents investor-owned utilities, and the American Legislative Exchange Council have dubbed the coming rules “EPA’s Regulatory Train Wreck.” The regulations, they say, will cost utilities up to $129 billion and force them to retire one-fifth of coal capacity. Given that coal provides 45 percent of the country’s power, that means higher electric bills, more blackouts and fewer jobs. The doomsday scenario has alarmed Republicans in the House, who have been scrambling to block the measures. Environmental groups retort that the rules will bring sizeable public health benefits, and that industry groups have been exaggerating the costs of environmental regulations since they were first created." www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/getting-ready-for-a-wave-of-coal-plant-shutdowns/2011/08/19/gIQAzkZ0PJ_blog.htmlI have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand I dislike punitive regulations coming out of EPA and others. On the other hand, this will likely improve my income since I own part interest in a natural gas well. And on the other hand the expected loss of jobs in the coal and related industries does not bode well for the nation as a whole. The EPA of course, doesn't give a shit about the impact on the economy as a result of unintended consequences. That's not in their charter. They always crank up some mythical 'benefit' that is never realized. Just more of that 'fundamental transformation' that Obama promised us. Wanna guess what the goal of that is? It wasn't a better life for everyone, I'll guarantee that.
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Post by magellan on Aug 21, 2011 1:01:53 GMT
Timing is impeccable, with a little effort the U.S. will be in full recession. "Getting ready for a wave of coal-plant shutdowns" "Industry groups such the Edison Electric Institute, which represents investor-owned utilities, and the American Legislative Exchange Council have dubbed the coming rules “EPA’s Regulatory Train Wreck.” The regulations, they say, will cost utilities up to $129 billion and force them to retire one-fifth of coal capacity. Given that coal provides 45 percent of the country’s power, that means higher electric bills, more blackouts and fewer jobs. The doomsday scenario has alarmed Republicans in the House, who have been scrambling to block the measures. Environmental groups retort that the rules will bring sizeable public health benefits, and that industry groups have been exaggerating the costs of environmental regulations since they were first created." www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/getting-ready-for-a-wave-of-coal-plant-shutdowns/2011/08/19/gIQAzkZ0PJ_blog.htmlI have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand I dislike punitive regulations coming out of EPA and others. On the other hand, this will likely improve my income since I own part interest in a natural gas well. And on the other hand the expected loss of jobs in the coal and related industries does not bode well for the nation as a whole. The EPA of course, doesn't give a shit about the impact on the economy as a result of unintended consequences. That's not in their charter. They always crank up some mythical 'benefit' that is never realized. Just more of that 'fundamental transformation' that Obama promised us. Wanna guess what the goal of that is? It wasn't a better life for everyone, I'll guarantee that. Think of all the jobs being created
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Post by curiousgeorge on Aug 21, 2011 13:45:20 GMT
August 17, 2011, 5:23 pm Citing a Lack of Usage, Costco Removes E.V. Chargers By JIM MOTAVALLI
Costco, the membership warehouse-club chain, was an early leader in offering electric-vehicle charging to its customers, setting an example followed by other retailers, including Best Buy and Walgreen. By 2006, Costco had installed 90 chargers at 64 stores, mostly in California but also some in Arizona, New York and Georgia. Even after General Motors crushed its EV1 battery cars, the Costco chargers stayed in place.
Yet just as plug-in cars like the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt enter the market, Costco is reversing course and pulling its chargers out of the ground, explaining that customers do not use them. Photographed last week, a charger installed at a Costco location in Rohnert Park, Calif. "Please be advised that this electric charger will be removed on Aug. 15th, 2011. Sorry for the inconvenience," the note says.Courtesy of Plug In AmericaPhotographed last week, a charger installed at a Costco location in Rohnert Park, Calif. “Please be advised that this electric charger will be removed on August 15th, 2011. Sorry for the inconvenience,” the note says.
“We were early supporters of electric cars, going back as far as 15 years. But nobody ever uses them,” said Dennis Hoover, the general manager for Costco in northern California, in a telephone interview. “At our Folsom store, the manager said he hadn’t seen anybody using the E.V. charging in a full year. At our store in Vacaville, where we had six chargers, one person plugged in once a week.”
Mr. Hoover said that E.V. charging was “very inefficient and not productive” for the retailer. “The bottom line is that there are a lot of other ways to be green,” he said. “We have five million members in the region, and just a handful of people are using these devices.”
Plug In America, the California-based E.V. advocacy group, contends that the stations do get used, and is conducting a rigorous grassroots campaign to save them. The group asserts that some of the units have been delivering free electricity to loyal E.V. owners for a decade or more, and that people regularly plug in.
The group says that the Costco chargers are invaluable for owners of Toyota’s older RAV4 electrics, many of which are still on the road in California. But the actor Ed Begley Jr., a longtime environmentalist and RAV4 owner, said in an e-mail that some of the Costco chargers around Los Angeles stopped working years ago.
The Costco outlets are also outdated by current standards, but a state-supported program stands ready to upgrade them at no cost to Costco.
That was one impetus for a $2.3 million program supported by the California Energy Commission and overseen by the charging companies Clipper Creek and EV Connect, which would have 600 to 650 so-called legacy E.V. chargers upgraded. According to Will Barrett, a Clipper Creek program manager, 30 new chargers have been installed since the program began operations in July. Mr. Barrett said that Costco decided not to participate in the state program last March. Funded by a $2.3 million California Energy Commission program, an electrician working for Phil Haupt Electric in Roseville, Calif., replaces a so-called legacy charger with a new unit.Jim BradyFinanced by a $2.3 million California Energy Commission program, an electrician working for Phil Haupt Electric in Roseville, Calif., replaces a so-called legacy charger with a new unit.
Mr. Hoover said the company was aware of the state-funded upgrade program, but did not see a compelling reason to take advantage of it.
“Why should we have anybody spend money on a program that nobody’s thought through?” he said.
“We know for a fact that many of the Costco chargers are used on a regular basis,” said Tom Saxton, a computer programmer from Washington State, who drives a RAV4 E.V. and serves on the board of Plug In America. “And because thousands of new electric vehicles are hitting the road, the chargers are going to be even more in demand. And people are charging while they shop.”
Plug In America said that more than 900 people had sent e-mails to James D. Sinegal, the co-founder and chief executive of Costco, urging him to reconsider. The group said it had worked to persuade at least one California store, located in Rohnert Park in Sonoma County, to keep its chargers. But Mr. Hoover said that the situation there had been “reviewed.” The bottom line: “We will be taking them out there, too,” he said.
wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/17/citing-a-lack-of-usage-costco-removes-e-v-chargers/
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Post by trbixler on Aug 22, 2011 1:00:35 GMT
"New EPA rule could lead to rolling blackouts in Texas, PUC chairwoman says" "The head of the Texas Public Utility Commission expressed concern Friday that a new federal air quality rule, set to take effect Jan. 1, will cause disruptions in electric service. If implementation of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule is not delayed, "I have no doubt in my mind that this rule will result in reliability issues and rolling outages in Texas," Donna Nelson said at the start of the commission's meeting. The rule, issued in early July by the Environmental Protection Agency, would require substantial reductions in emissions of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide at power plants in 27 states" www.star-telegram.com/2011/08/19/3301808/new-epa-rule-could-lead-to-rolling.html#ixzz1ViOYgD9o
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Post by trbixler on Aug 22, 2011 1:02:04 GMT
"New EPA rule could lead to rolling blackouts in Texas, PUC chairwoman says" "The head of the Texas Public Utility Commission expressed concern Friday that a new federal air quality rule, set to take effect Jan. 1, will cause disruptions in electric service. If implementation of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule is not delayed, "I have no doubt in my mind that this rule will result in reliability issues and rolling outages in Texas," Donna Nelson said at the start of the commission's meeting. The rule, issued in early July by the Environmental Protection Agency, would require substantial reductions in emissions of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide at power plants in 27 states" www.star-telegram.com/2011/08/19/3301808/new-epa-rule-could-lead-to-rolling.html#ixzz1ViOYgD9o
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Post by trbixler on Aug 23, 2011 15:15:00 GMT
Our taxes at work, shovel ready. "Federal Stimulus Funds for Nevada's Green-Industry Grows Trees, But Few Jobs" "A federal stimulus grant of nearly $500,000 to grow trees and stimulate the economy in Nevada yielded a whopping 1.72 jobs, according to government statistics. In 2009, the U.S. Forest Service awarded $490,000 of stimulus money to Nevada's Clark County Urban Forestry Revitalization Project, aimed at revitalizing urban neighborhoods in the county with trees, plants, and green-industry training." Read more: www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/22/taxpayer-union-slams-stimulus-project-for-lack-jobs-officials-say-it-wasnt/#ixzz1VrhkeR6h
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Post by curiousgeorge on Aug 23, 2011 19:46:44 GMT
Gee, not even the Germans want what the Greens are selling. Solar panels, electric cars, windmills, biofuels – It’s all been ballyhooed as the next socio-technological revolution. One that would transform our energy supply and ensure “sustainability”, thus saving the earth from climate doom. “Go green” was the motto.
All that was needed was a little help from the state. Now it looks as if even a Soviet style intervention is not going to save the green movement. Rather, it looks as if state intervention has doomed it. Everywhere the green economy is in tatters.
It seems everything that the government touches nowadays ends up turning into a folly. We are seeing it with solar energy, see here, here, here and here. The same goes with wind, biofuels and deforestation, and even the toxic mercury-laden light bulbs that are poisoning the land. How much longer before it all goes bankrupt?
Just recently Marc Morano unplugged the Chevy Volt, revealing the folly behind government supported electric cars, see here. No one wants them – even with the massive subsidies. And not even in Green Germany.
Germans opting more for gasoline and diesel engine cars
Here a recent study released by oil company Aral shows that Germans are once again interested in acquiring a new car, read here in German. That’s good news for the economy. The problem is that fewer people are expressing interest in buying electric cars and hybrids. The Aral press release writes (emphasis added):
The preferred drive system remains the Otto engine by a clear margin. After 2009 when only 51% were interested in buying this conventional type of drive system, the number has since risen 10 percent to 61%. Also diesel engines can be happy with a share of 28% (+2%). A significant decrease was posted by cars driven by natural gas. Here the number of potential buyers has dropped by 50% over the last 2 years, going from 10% to 5%. Also electric cars have suffered a setback: Only 28% of those surveyed said they could imagine buying an electric car. Two years ago the figure was 36%.
notrickszone.com/2011/08/23/uncooperative-green-economy-germans-turning-their-backs-on-green-cars/
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Post by curiousgeorge on Aug 23, 2011 20:13:12 GMT
China EV's - Even Buffet is bailing. BYD's profit warning and failure to deliver its promised electric-car plan sent shares plunging to a more than two-year low, as the Chinese auto and battery maker backed by Warren Buffett struggles with steady sales declines and waning popularity of its top model. Shares in BYD plummeted more than 14 percent today after the company warned it could post a third-quarter loss.
BYD is delaying the release of the e6 in the U.S. until next year. (Credit: BYD )
The grim warning and ensuing stock drop has put a spotlight on the company's strategy and on Buffett, whose investment in BYD has lost around $2 billion in value since taking a stake in 2009. His stake is still worth twice what he paid, though.
BYD attracted Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway because of its battery technology, which former Berkshire executive David Sokol called a "breakthrough." Sokol has since left the company under a cloud related to his personal investing activities.
Despite BYD's F3 sedan being China's best-selling car brand in 2009 and 2010, the company sold only 480 units combined of its F3DM hybrid and e6 electric model. It has also delayed the U.S. launch of its e6 until 2012.
Sales may improve in the second half with the launch of new models, BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu said today.
The company planned to export electric cars and buses to the United States and Europe next year and other overseas markets such as Hong Kong as early as this year, the chairman said.
"We will start selling e6 to individual customers in China in the second half and to overseas markets next year," Wang told reporters. "The fourth quarter is the traditional high season for car sales in China and with the new models coming to the market, our auto sales should be better in the second half than the first half."
He expects BYD's gross profit margin, which fell to 13.7 percent in the first half, to improve in the second half.
BYD warned yesterday that its net profit for the first three quarters may fall 85 percent to 95 percent due to fierce competition in China, the world's largest auto market.
"I drove their car two years ago and I love it," said CLSA analyst Scott Laprise, referring to BYD's hybrid car. I thought this is the winner and I thought this could go anywhere in the world because of relatively low price.
"The premium part of the valuation is zero because they can't deliver what they promised years ago," Laprise said.
Buffett bailing? Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway paid about $230 million in 2009 for 225 million shares in the company.
That stake was worth as much as $2.47 billion in October 2009 when the stock peaked at HK$85.5 each. The 9.6 percent stake is now worth about $467 million.
Wang said the company continued to maintain a good relationship with Buffett, but declined to comment on whether the U.S. investor would sell BYD shares.
Within Berkshire, the champion for the BYD investment has been Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, who held a personal stake even before the Berkshire investment and who has spoken of BYD's chairman in glowing terms.
At investor meetings in April and July, Munger said he intended to stick with the BYD stake, which some took as a signal that Buffett would as well.
Buffett and Munger have also brushed aside concerns--raised by U.S. diplomats in cables released by WikiLeaks--that BYD has copied industrial designs from competitors. Diplomats have said that and other factors may keep BYD from releasing cars in the United States.
Buffett's assistant did not respond to a request for comment today.
Lower forecasts, targets BYD's guidance for a further deterioration and the forecast represented a 154 million yuan ($24 million) loss to a 90 million yuan profit for the third quarter, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a note.
The consensus 2011 profit forecast for the company stands at 1.7 billion yuan, according to a poll of six analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch today cut the target price on BYD shares by 15 percent to HK$17, after lowering its 2011 earnings forecast by 61 percent and its 2012 forecast by 31 percent.
BYD's Hong Kong-listed shares, which have lost more than three-fifths of their value this year, dived 14.3 percent to close at HK$16.18, their lowest since April 2009, compared with a 2 percent gain in the Hang Seng Index.
However, its Shenzhen-listed shares were up 1.2 percent.
The market has high expectations on BYD's newly launched sport utility vehicle S6, and the coming G3 model, which will replace the popular F3, analysts said.
"This (profit forecast) was a surprise to the market," said Steve Man, an analyst at Samsung Securities.
"Maybe on top of that the year-on-year comparison will be pretty easy starting from the third quarter. So people are hoping the company's earning starts to turning around," Man added.
Read more: news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20096082-54/chinas-byd-struggles-with-electric-car-efforts/#ixzz1Vsv7wl34
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Post by curiousgeorge on Aug 25, 2011 14:29:45 GMT
The shake out continues. Who will be the last man standing? Solar-manufacturing hopeful SpectraWatt has filed for bankruptcy protection, blaming operational problems and difficult market conditions. It's the second U.S.-based solar company to file for bankruptcy this month. SpectraWatt was spun out of Intel two years ago to manufacture silicon solar cells.
SpectraWatt was spun out of chip giant Intel in 2008 with a plan to improve manufacturing of silicon solar cells. But after raising over $90 million in private investment and receiving state aid in New York, it filed on Monday for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
In court documents, it said that it has been trying to sell its assets, including an idled manufacturing facility in New York, but has not been able to come to an agreement with creditors.
"Due to various operational issues, disputes with vendors and others, and most recently, deteriorating market conditions in the solar cell industry, the Debtor has idled its manufacturing facility, closed its operations in Oregon, retained only a skeleton staff, and has been marketing its assets for sale," said CEO and Chief Restructuring Officer Brad Walker in documents cited by the Times Herald Record.
The company in December shut down a manufacturing plant in upstate New York, blaming a slowdown in solar demand from Europe. It had moved from a location in Oregon because it received state incentives in New York.
SpectraWatt said it wants to auction off its solar-manufacturing equipment soon because it projects that in six months the market will be flooded with used equipment as other solar companies go out of business, according to the Poughkeepsie Journal.
Read more: news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20096841-54/intel-solar-spinoff-spectrawatt-files-for-bankruptcy/#ixzz1W3CcAZXm
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