Posted on 03/07/2013 7:58:26 PM PST by Rocky
It seems to be a trend now, last October it was Seimens who gave up on solar, now it is British Petroleum, who has been in the solar business nearly 40 years, and has made the last closure announcements, finalizing what they announced in 2011.
In the news today:
(Reuters) – British oil major BP shut down the remnants of its solar unit on Wednesday, drawing a line under the business on which most of its Beyond Petroleum tagline of the early 2000s was premised.
The unit, which BP has been scaling back since 2008, is the latest sun energy business to fall victim to rampant competition from China, falling prices, overcapacity and lower government subsidies on which the industry still depends.
Solar Millennium on Wednesday became the second German solar company to file for insolvency in December, following module maker Solon.
U.S. company Solyndra LLC folded earlier in 2011 while Swiss bank Sarasin said in a recent study that Conergy and Q-Cells were among the German solar companies most exposed to the sector’s crisis.
“The continuing global economic challenges have significantly impacted the solar industry, making it difficult to sustain long term returns for the company, despite our best efforts,” BP said in an internal letter to staff.
The company confirmed on Wednesday that it plans to exit its large-scale projects at Long Haven in the U.S. and Moree in Australia.
BP announced plans in July to abandon its household and industrial rooftop solar activities to concentrate on the larger projects but said on December15 that even those were no longer viable.
It just isn't economical.
Solar power sucks. It is weak and expensive. I like coal and Gas!I do have a hybrid car and it is awesome and I get 43 mpg!! I love that. But solar is gone. Wind is finished!!Good old fracked oil is wonderful!!
Green energy! Green energy!
I would have thought that BP, who has been around quite a while, would know that anything which requires a government subsidy to make it a viable operation would never succeed. If the public wants something, build it and they will buy it with their own money.
BP has moved into ethanol production in a major, major way by purchasing most of the patent portfolio of Verenium Corp. So the “Beyond Petroleum” motto is still accurate.
E85 is a mixture of 85% ethanol, 15% unleaded gasoline. A lot of the late model cars and trucks have an E85-burning engine as an option, and with subsidies the fuel is really cheap. If you can find a gas station that sells E85 in your area, it’s almost certainly a BP station.
Zero is really having a baaaaad week, isn’t he.
I believe you have that bass-ackwards.
A glass is half empty...
The down side: your mileage will drop. And yes it is cheaper but that is because it is heavily subsidized. Ethanol is artificially held low to be able to compete.
And the the impact to the cost of corn and corn related products? A boon for the farmers, though. I imagine that they are doing pretty well.
I remember reading that the batteries are good for about 8 years and that they cost a bundle to replace. What are your plans?
My apologies.
You are right with the up to 85% ethanol/15% gasoline.
God help us.
E10 is 10% ethanol. E85% is 85%.
We are forced to buy E10 year round here in Colorado even though it isn’t required. E10 is cheaper? Yes, something that is mixed (ethanol and gasoline) versus something that isn’t (straight gasoline) is cheaper.
This was my concern. But apparently it isn't as big an issue as people claimed and claim.
200K miles is pretty good for any car.
On the other hand, will a person ever recover the added expense of the hybrid system in increased gas mileage? Don't know. However, as determined as Obama and the loony left are in driving energy prices through the roof in that respect it is an investment.
I believe you have that bass-ackwards. NO thats spot on correct/ earlier ethanol blends only used 10 to 15 percent ehanol. e85 is kicked up to these high levels. The only reason it has gas at all in it is to keep the brightest of the bright from drinking it.I've burnt many hundreds of gallons of this stuff while commutting to work in NE. No loss in poweror increase in engine noises, just a 10% reduction in mileage. can easily be compensated for buy the lower cost
It is just very poorly suited for large scale plant applications.
The current generation of rigid silicone based cell are not green nor energy saving because the require several times energy in coal, gas or petroleum based fossil fuels in one day to manufacture than they actually produce over their 20 year(maybe) life
The next generation of solar will be green, energy efficient and practical, assuming the companies developing these technologies survive.
The irony here is that the well intentioned “Green Boom” was based on feel good, limousine liberal environmentalism, not hard science and engineering and the artificial demand generated force fitting of old generation solar systems into application were not suited for may kill off all of the new breakthrough solar technologies and start up companies
Thus the law of unintended consequences may have given rise to a disastrous out come - the big push to jump start the commercialization of solar using obsolete technology may end up destroying the future of the emerging breakthrough solar technologies..
Read it here: http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/reports_and_publications/statistical_energy_review_2011/STAGING/local_assets/pdf/BP_World_Energy_Outlook_booklet_2013.pdf
“The irony here is that the well intentioned “Green Boom” was based on feel good, limousine liberal environmentalism, not hard science and engineering”
As we have seen in a couple of recent incidents, letting the government in the door can destroy the reputation of even a whore house.
Shocked I tell you! Can’t believe that any of these folks are going out of business when they get so much help from the government! What the heck is going on here!
Thanks for the link.
I believe your comment/question was intended for post#2 on this thread, not for me.
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