Marketing Optimism versus Healthy Optimism

Mid-2012, the solar shutdowns and the industry’s painful correction continue. Motech announced that it will shutter US-based polysilicon manufacturer AE Polysilicon, and GE announced that it is stopping construction on its CdTe manufacturing facility in Colorado, citing un-competitively low prices and a return to R&D. In early 2012, CdTe manufacturer Abound made a very similar […]

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Two Closures Illustrate the Need to Chart a New Course for Solar

Thursday’s back-to-back closure announcements came out of Colorado and Germany. The reverberations, though, will be felt heavily in places like Albuquerque, N.M., and Tipton, Ind. That’s where hundreds of manufacturing jobs will be lost, and where hundreds more will never be made. Read More: Two Closures Illustrate the Need to Chart a New Course for […]

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PV for All: Low-Income Housing Residents Going Solar

Until recently, the low-income housing community has been a tough nut for the solar industry to crack. Low-income housing developments have historically avoided going solar due to the obvious difficulties of incorporating high-cost, discretionary photovoltaic (PV) systems into affordable housing. However, a unique mix of local, utility, and federal support combined with a little financial […]

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Discovery of Indian artifacts complicates Genesis solar project

After human remains were unearthed near the $1-billion Genesis project 200 miles east of L.A., the Colorado River Indian Tribes are demanding that the Obama administration slow down on solar plants in the Mojave Desert. The Feb. 27 letter from the chairman of the Colorado River Indian Tribes was pleading and tough. It asked President […]

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