Solar-Cell company touted last year by Obama closes down, can't compete with China's cheap stuff

[Liberal_in_LA]

Fremont solar firm Solyndra files for bankruptcy

(08-31) 10:23 PDT -- Solar-cell manufacturer Solyndra Inc. announced today that it would seek bankruptcy protection, suspend work at its Fremont facilities and lay off 1,100 employees, as the recent plunge in panel prices undercut the company's sales.

Solyndra, whose modules are thin tubes rather than flat panels, gained national attention in 2009 when it won a $535 million loan guarantee from the federal government to build a second factory in Fremont, near the company's headquarters. State and federal officials cited the project as an example of how the green tech industry could generate jobs.

But the company had to cancel its plans for a $300 million initial public stock offering last year, and it struggled to compete against a flood of inexpensive solar cells pouring into the market from new factories in China.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/31/BU1R1KU8G2.DTL#ixzz1WeW5vOY1

[ixion]

1. free trade in action.

[DURHAM D]

2. sad, just sad

[qb]

3. Woo hoo! Let's celebrate with another free trade agreement!

:sarcasm:

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

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[LaurenG]

5. This is really sad.

damn.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

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[Rex]

7. My wasn't it a GREAT idea shoving capitalism down the Easts

throat! All those decades of the Red Menace and the USSR! We sure showed them! They took our systems of govt and cast them aside...haha only kidding, they bastardized our systems of govt and now can outpace us in cheap labor (actually probably not if you included illegal migrant workers). And the Ruling Class gets colder and harder on the working class. Must be our fault! Wanting a minimum wage! It is KILLING American competitiveness! :sarcasm:

How is that outsourcing working out for ya!?

[bahrbearian]

8. Tariffs

[aquart]

9. Competent countries support their own industries.

We wouldn't think of such a thing.

[badtoworse]

10. This the kind of crap that a jobs program needs to address...

...and massive government spending won't do that. Unless and until this kind of stuff is contained, all the improved infrastructure will do is allow the Chinese made stuff to move around the country faster.

[JoeyT]

11. A massive jobs project would help with unemployment, for a while.

It might be enough to kickstart the economy and get us chugging along until the next disaster or bubble, anyway.

The only thing that's going to fix this is renegotiating our godawful free trade agreements, like we were promised during the election. Instead we're getting more of them.

[jwhitesj]

14. Yes, and make training America much cheaper.

Our trade deals are horrible and vocational schoos charge a rediculous amount of money. College shouldn't be so damn expensive either.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. Yup, my local shit stirrers

were very critical of this due to the waste in stim money... instead of addressing free trade.

We need a few ol' fashioned tariffs.

[AdHocSolver]

13. The Federal deficit is NOT the cause of our economic problems. The trade deficit is the problem.

We need to protect American jobs. American workers pay taxes which could automatically reduce the Federal deficit.

American workers buying goods manufactured by other Americans keeps the money circulating within the U.S.

"Free trade" is NOT free. It is costing us our standard of living.

Foreign countries with cheap labor are dumping goods into the U.S. After American manufacturers like this company are driven out of business, it is guaranteed that prices on imported goods will increase as the competition is eliminated.

What are needed are tariffs and/or restrictions on imports from low wage countries to protect American jobs by leveling the playing field.

What is also needed is for Americans to refuse to buy overpriced imported goods from low wage countries, and start demanding that retailers stock American-made items such as clothing, shoes, appliances, tools, hardware, linens, furniture, and thousands of everyday goods.

An American public that keeps buying overpriced imports from low wage countries is encouraging the continued outsourcing of jobs.

[Juche]

15. Evergreen Solar panels are down to $1.50 a watt

http://www.sunelec.com/

That article claims China has production costs of $1.20-1.25 per watt. I know the article was about Solyndra, but why would evergreen not be able to compete with those costs and go bankrupt? I'm sure there is more to the issue than what I know though.

I've never seen any cheap chinese solar panels. Plus US made thin film is supposedly down to $0.60 a watt production cost.