State grant recipient Austin-based solar energy company HelioVolt suspends operations

[TexasTowelie]

Austin-based solar energy company HelioVolt Corp. is suspending manufacturing operations and laying off employees after a major investor pulled its support, company officials said Monday.

HelioVolt, which makes thin-film solar products that can be incorporated into building materials, employed 127 people locally, of which about 100 were regular full-time employees, company officials said last summer.

At that time, the company had raised $233 million to fund its move to volume production and international expansion, including more than $80 million from SK Group, whose holdings include South Korea’s largest refiner.

-snip-

In addition to money from SK Group, HelioVolt was awarded up to $1 million from the state-administered Texas Enterprise Fund in 2008, with the governor’s office at the time saying the plant would create nearly 160 jobs and $62 million in capital investment.

But the company ended up only taking about half that amount, company officials said.

During the recession, HelioVolt scaled back its operations, and ended up repaying about $250,000 back to the state either through clawbacks or repaid later with interest, company officials said.

More at http://www.statesman.com/news/business/austin-based-solar-energy-company-heliovolt-suspen/ndbFH/ .

[font color=green]So Rick Perry has his own Solyndra scandal?[/font]

Cross-posted in the Environment & Energy Group.

[Javaman]

1. I vaguely remember this being built...

Last edited Wed Feb 26, 2014, 05:01 PM - Edit history (2)

a buddy of mine worked on the design for the plant and there was something very odd with the cost of the plant and the actual funding that didn't seem to jibe.

I've contacted my friend and hopefully he can jog my memory.

this solar plant being built here in Austin wasn't as innocent as it appeared at the time. (just like everything in Texas).

[Javaman]

2. update: I just heard from my friend who worked on the design.

he knew it was a bullshit deal. Why?

1) helivolt were big perry contributors
2) as a result were big recipients of a tech grant
3) (according to my friend) never any provisions to put solar on the fab building
4) everything was a first time build. What that means is: none of the equipment to manufacture the panels ever existed before.

And as my friend summed it up, "they basically got a shit load of money to "see" if something worked.

Now, I'm not going out on a limb and say something smells or that this could be misconstrued as money laundering, but certainly something is not kosher.

But this being texas and perry being the control freak cement head that he is with all sorts of cronies to cover his ass, nothing will happen with this and it will vanish like a fart in the wind.