Posted on 08/04/2017 9:18:13 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
NEW YORK, Aug. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- GameChange Solar CEO Andrew Worden today issued a statement voicing deep concern about the ITC 201 trade case which threatens the US solar industry and if passed by the Trump administration, could trigger the loss of 88,000 or more of the 374,000 American jobs in the industry.
Solar manufacturing is the fastest growing employment sector in the country over the last five years with jobs surging by 58%. This is due to the rapidly dropping costs of solar power which created a surge in demand for the equipment that goes into building solar farms.
At GameChange Solar, we manufacture the steel racking for roof and ground mount systems as well as trackers for ground mount solar farms. Our structures are made primarily with 100% American made steel. Our steel comes mostly from steel mills in such states as Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Ohio before being fabricated into racking at factories in Alabama, Tennessee, Minnesota, Kansas, Utah, New Jersey, Indiana, Ohio and other states....
(Excerpt) Read more at markets.businessinsider.com ...
“This is due to the rapidly dropping costs of solar power”
No. It is due to all the myriad federal and state subsidies, direct and indirect, to the solar industry and its customers. Without them there would have been no surge and without them kept up solar will pass away as NOT financially feasible on it own for most people.
Rapidly dropping costs?
So, does this mean Solar companies no longer receive any State or Federal subsidies? Or are the lower costs due to continued tax payer robbing subsidies.
The issue is the true cost of government subsidized solar power and solar jobs.
I believe solar research is very smart. I don’t think solar panels will ultimately be the future of solar power. Too bulky, too much space, too breakable, too erratic, too ugly, and way too costly.
These guys do not make solar panels.
I wonder what the American manufacturers of solar panels think of the petition to set the price of solar panels?
Bingo! What a ridiculous premise the author makes. For a corollary, look at Tesla sales in Hong Kong and Denmark before and after subsidies.
CEO Andrew Warden is just another rent-seeking leech with his snoot in the trough begging the farmer to keep the free slop coming.
Exactly.
Don’t forget, power production at night is slightly affected, too. So you need to build TWO power plants where only one did the entire job before. You need the solar panels for daytime and a natural gas backup for night time.
How can building TWICE the plant I previously needed ever be economic?
Keep in mind that going from 25 employees to 50 employees is 100% increase. I’d be more impressed if he used real numbers rather than those created from percentages and projections.
Solar power jobs are effectively government jobs
You are right on the mony.
I suppose they could triple or quadruple the power output collected.
But That won’t happen with current panel collection methods.
Solar Manufacturing is NOT the fastest growing employment sector.
The ONLY way to make $ in solar is automation using robots.
Same as semiconductors...most of the material handling is all robots.
Too expensive to risk dropping a stack of very valuable wafers.
The writer knows nothing about Solar.
Most likely he is counting “Installers” as part of the “Manufacturing”
Solar and wind produced electricity costs $.26/kwt, while natural gas is .$12 and coal produced electrical power is $.04. Why would any country continue to sink subsidies into these least cost-effective means of generating electricity, especially since nat gas and coal are incredibly abundant?
Not really
I’m the engineer and contractor for a large solar and LED firm
In short you freepers are mostly parrots for the utilities
They DONT want solar
I take customers with 50,000$ a year bills who then owe Nothing
Residential. Prob. 3-4 k per year then next to nothing
In short you have two choices as a property owner
1- keep keying forever
2- put PV panels up and stop paying forever
In NJ where my folks live and 15 other states not only does your bill go away but you get a CHECK every month from the utilities through the bureaucrats making them buy it
All these old arguments are long since passed
There is about 12500 MW megawatts for those in Rio Linda installed worldwide
Again it’s easy to say it’s all solyndra and bullcrap. But it’s NOT.
They work and work well
Freepers. Here’s an engineering question for you
Name any other way for priduction of electricity with NO moving parts
Ok?
Then get back to me
Cheers.
Thermocouple. What do I win?
I always wondered about solar power, not in the usual sense, but in the heat sense.
You know how a bridge will buckle because of the heat during midday.
What about a 200 foot long piece of steel mounted with a fixed point at one end, and the other end being geared to a generator?
Seems to me the sun heats it up and it expands, driving the generator.
Then, when it’s good and hot, just dump some water on it to shrink it back down - note that a well designed generator could run in either direction.
Trouble is, the steel, or whatever it is, would probably crystallize and lose it’s strength.
Anyways, just a stupid idea, I’m probably wasting my time...
;-)
These are govt jobs. I don’t celebrate growth of government.
I have a 30’ x 30’ southern facing garage roof that seems perfect for panels. How much is the initial outlay? Do you have to have batteries to store the electricity, or is it sent back to the power company?
This FReeper is interested in spending nothing forever and/or getting a check!
And, there is no reason for conservatives to be hostile toward solar power per se, it's just another technology that may well become a useful option. On the contrary, when the private sector comes up with innovation we should applaud it.
Tell them to call Obama. This is his baby. He owns it.
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