Posted on 12/20/2011 11:46:59 AM PST by thackney
Oil giant BP is preparing to exit the solar industry entirely.
BP is preparing to wind down its BP Solar unit and sell-off the stakes it has in various projects around the world.
A document announcing the decision to the 100 employees who will be affected says changes in the solar industry have left BP unable to achieve sufficient margins in the sector.
It says the decision is made with regret after a “near 40-year commitment to solar energy”.
A BP spokesman confirms the move and says that over the last six months "regrettably we have come to the decision that we can't make solar viable for BP".
The spokesman says BP will engage with its various solar partners around the world and would aim to exit projects "in a way that leaves them viable".
The UK group had already pulled back from module manufacturing to concentrate on project development.
In July it shut its factory in Maryland, US, ending a process that saw some 460 US jobs cut over two years.
It had earlier axed manufacturing capacity in Spain.
In an interview with Recharge last autumn, Katrina Landis, chief executive of BP Alternative Energy said: “The Chinese have effectively commoditised manufacturing of PV panels. You simply cannot compete with China’s ability to produce PV panels that have the quality required to satisfy Western customers.”
BP’s interests in other clean-energy sectors, prominently wind and biofuels, are unaffected, says the spokesman.
duh
Imagine that.
Of course. The nature can take care of itself. Pollution is overrated, scared tactics anyway.
See how “devastated” the gulf is now?
Exiting a boondoggle.
Beginning of the end for solar.
Did we cut solar subsidies to BP? That alone could do it.
But, but,....
I’m stunned by this unexpected outcome.
BP trying to kill the polar bears and melt the glaciers screams coming from MSNBC in 3...2...1
The enviroloonies’ “alternative energy” thing doesn’t seem to be working out.
In other news, BP, “Beyond Petroleum”, is changing its name to BTP, and hence, “Back To Petroleum”.
Any idea as to how many millions (billions?) of dollars in Green Subsidies BP accepted (and presumably flushed down the hole) from the US and others (BP is a *British* corporation, with strong ties to the EU) before packing it in??
I worked at Solar Power Corporation of America in 1982. It was a subsidiary of Exxon. The only reason it existed was to make the panels for the AramCo pipeline.
I guess they mean to commodify or make a commodity of solar. Not difficult where people will work for peanuts.
If BP had been in favor with The Administration they would have been showered with cash to support their solar whatever.
So they have seen the error in their ways.
I don’t think the US has yet, but some other countries have begun to see the light.
Solar power is great for watches and calculators, but not so much for anything that needs reliable and consistent oomph.
where do the greenie weinies go from here? Do they claim we didn’t spend enough money?
Perhaps, perpetual motion?
In other words the subsidy money hasn't dried up completely in these areas yet...
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