Political BS aside....why are these companies failing? Is there really no money to be made in the alternative energy business???
On Fri, Jul 20, 2012 at 11:46 AM, Jerry Barnes <[email protected]> wrote: > > Amonix is another company declaring bankruptcy after not being able to make > it in the solar energy market. This is another company that was heavily > subsidized by the federal government with 6 million dollars in tax credits > and a 15 million dolllar grant from the US Department of Energy. The > company has only been open for 14 months. > > > This is one of a long line of clean energy companies that have recently > failed or faced difficulty > > > * Solar Trust of America - Opened in 2009 and went bankrupt in April of > 2012. Solar Trust received a 2.1 billion dollar loan guarantee from the > Dept of Energy but fortunately turned it down. > > * Bright Source - Opened in 2008 and is still in business thanks to a last > minute 1.6 billion dollar loan in March of 2011 that staved off financial > failure. Interestingly enough, the loan is now part of an ethics probe. > Apparently, Bright Source hired Vice President Joe Biden's former chief of > staff to lobby the administration for the loan. > > * Solyndra - Founded in 2005 and bankrupt in August of 2011. Solyndra > was considered for a US Dept of Energy Loan by the Bush Administration, but > it was eventually unanimously declined. In March 2009, the US Dept of > Energy approved a 527 million loan even though a budget analys stated that > the project "This deal is not ready for prime time." Solyndra received a > 25 million dollar tax break from California. To help sales, in 2010, the > IRS chipped in and gave an additional 30% tax credit for customers who > installed 10,000 dollars worth of Solyndra panels. > > * Azure Dynamics - In another case of good fortune, the DOE did not give a > grant or loan to Azure Dynamics before it declared bankruptcy in the spring > of 2012. The state of Michigan did give a 1.7 million dollar tax credit in > 2009. Azure did receive a four year 112 million dollar contract from the > Government Service Agency which allowed the military and > government agencies to order the Transit Connect EV. > > Related to this, Johnson Controls received a 299 millon dollar grant from > the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and 168.5 millions dollars > in incentives from the state of Michigan to build a plant in Holland, MI. > This plant was supposed to work in conjunction with Azure Dynamics to > build electric vehicles. The bankruptcy unfortunately has caused a slow > down in production at the plant and caused Johnson Controls to lose money > that it invested in Azure Dynamics. > > * Beacon Power - Beacon was founded in 1997 and went bankrupt in October of > 2011. In 2009, Beacon received a 43 million dollar loan guarantee for the > DOE. Beacon also received an additional 29 million dollars in grants from > Pennsylvania and the US. As a side note, in Feb of 2012, Rockland Capital, > a private equity group, bought most of the companies assets. As another > aside, partner Joseph Lambeth of Rockland gave 20,000 to the DNC and Barack > Obama in 2011. > > * Abound Solar - Abound Solar received a 400 million dollar loan from the > DOE in 2010. In declared bankruptcy in June of 2012. Forutnately for tax > payers, it is reported that only 40 to 60 million dollars of the loan will > be lost after the sale of assets. In 2010, President Obama praised the > company in one of his speeches: "The second company is Abound Solar > Manufacturing, which will manufacture advanced solar panels at two new > plants, creating more than 2,000 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent > jobs." Pat Stryker, one of the wealthiest 400 people in America, was a > major back of the plant and a bundler for President Obama. > > * Evergreen Solar - Founded in 1994, it went bankrupt in August of 2011. > Evergreen received 58 million dollars in financial aid from the state > of Massachusetts. After the bankruptcy, Evergreen was sued by the DOE in > order to prevent it from selling patents to firms not based in the US. It > is argued that these patents were developed between 2002 and 2005 using a 3 > million dollar federal grant. > > * Ener1 - Ener1 received a 118.5 million dollar grant from the DOE in 2010. > The company declared bankruptcy in March of 2012. In January of 2011, > Vice President Biden visited Ener1 in order to proclaim how successful it > was. > > * Uni-Solar - Uni-Solar received a 13.275 million dollar federal tax credit > in January of 2010. Then, in June of 2012, Uni-Solar declared bankruptcy. > In May of 2006, The Greenville City Council approved 45 millions dollars > worth of incentives for Uni-Solar. These included tax breaks, grants, and > employee training. > > * Energy Conversion Devices - Another Michigan company declared bankruptcy > in February of 2012. This company was a subsidiary of Uni-Solar. In the > Spring of 2009, it did receive a 13.3 million dollar tax credit from the > stimulus program and it was predicted that the company would create 600 new > jobs. In order to save money, in August of 2010, it shipped 140 jobs from > its Michigan factory to Mexico. > > * A123 Systems - In August of 2009, A123 received 249 million dollar grant > from the DOE. Part of the grant was used to refurbish plants in Livonia > and Romulus MI. In November of 2011, 125 workers were laid off from these > plants after A123 produced faulty batteries for another DOE > grant recipient Fisker Automotive. The faulty batteries were quite > the embarrassment since they prevent consumer reports from test a Fisker > automobile. As of now, there is a 55 million dollar recall effort out by > A123 to reclaim faulty batteries. The DOE grant was supposed to be > completely used by the end of 2012, but the DOE has extended the period to > the end of 2014. In 2011, A123 lost 257 million dollars in 2011, 152.6 > million in 2010, and 85 million in 2009. At the start of 2010, A123's stock > price was over 20 per share. Now it is under 90 cents. It is currently > being sued by a NY based law firm over inadequacies in disclosure related > to the defective batteries. > > Between 2008 up until now, executives from the company donated more than > 22000 dollars to Barack Obama, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign > Committee, Senator John Kerry, and Representative Ed Markey while sending > 1000 dollars to Scott Brown. > > * Ecotality - In August of 2009, Ecotality received a 99.8 million dollar > grant from the DOE. In June of 2010, it received another 15 million dollar > grant from the DOE. Since June of 2010, Ecotatlity has been investigated > by the SEC for stock issues, sued the state of California for working with > NRG in building a competing network of charging stations. Ecotatlity > turned it first ever profit in the first quarter of 2012, making 1.2 > million dollars. The stock was valued at 34.80 in August of 2007. In July > of 2012, it is valued at .47 per share. > > * SunPower - The already financially troubled SunPower (800 million in > debt) received a 1.2 billion dollar loan guarantee from the DOE in the > spring of 2011. Shortly thereafter, it sold a 60% stake of itself to > French Energy company Total, who then gave the company a 1 billion dollar > credit line. The 1.2 billion dollar loan was to be used to create a solar > power ranch. This was actually sold to NRG. The ranch is projected to > create 15 full time jobs. Representative George Miller has stated that > SunPower is a success after touring one of its plants. Mr Miller's son > works for the lobbying firm employed by SunPower. Interestingly enough, > after the Solyendra scandal broke, someone at the DOE went back and > scrubbed the website of references to SunPower. > > The Obama Administration has stated over and over that each of these > companies received funding based on merit. In the book "Throw Them All > Out", the author Peter Schweizer shows that 71% of the DOE grants and loans > went to bundlers for Obama's Presidential campaign, members of Obama's > National Finance Committee, or large donors to the Democratic Party. The > 71% raised 457,834 dollars for Obama and the Democratic Party. The 71% > received 11.35 billion dollars in DOE handouts. > > J > > - > > Ninety percent of politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation. > - Henry Kissinger > > Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, > go out and buy some more tunnel. - John Quinton > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:352889 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
