Posted on 11/17/2016 2:24:52 PM PST by mdittmar
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) -- The biggest U.S. manufacturer of solar panels is cutting a quarter of its jobs worldwide and will halt production at its only North American plant in Ohio.
First Solar Inc. says it's facing challenging market conditions and needs to retool operations to begin making a more efficient solar panel.
The company based in Tempe, Arizona, will cut 1,600 jobs worldwide.
Details about the restructuring plan haven't been released, but the company says it will stop production at its plant near Toledo that employs about 1,400 workers.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
The pump ran during the day to fill the tank and then was gravity fed during the night hours.
It was a choice between limited and no power. So limited worked.
People that have a non-government incentive to do so will make improvement in both solar panels and battery storage.
In time it will become practical for houses out in the country who are willing to deal with some restrictions.
It will probably never become practical for cities, big businesses, hospitals or anything that MUST have access to a large, steady amount of energy.
Oh No! The Democrats promised that this would save us from Global Warming! I believe Hillary touted the many jobs that would arise from this industry. Looks like the only job here is bankruptcy attorney!
Amen!
Efficient? I think they need a breakthrough in physics to do that.
Doesn't anyone sell gasoline powered generators where you live? They'll charge your battery energy storage just as well as a solar setup does.
This was quiet and when we were ready to leave we just disassembled them and put them in the shed.
Took maybe a half hour to set up and break down.
Your mileage may vary.
Did you compare the power generated per full day of solar power capture versus 20 minutes of running a generator before you chose solar? Or did you just pick solar because you preferred it for aesthetic reasons and no amount of inefficiency or unreliability was going to dissuade you?
The only numbers green jobs produce are red.
Guy down the hill was switching his out for a better one and asked me if I wanted it for my cabin.
Up until then it was no power because the hauling a generator, even propane which would have been most practical, in and out would have been too much trouble.
Maybe if someone had offered me a gas generator that was already there, offered to maintain it, haul in the fuel and so on and so forth I would have gone for it.
Or maybe not.
Didn't happen that way so I didn't do it that way.
Kickbacks. Always about kickbacks.
Thereby reinforcing what every REAL engineer knows.
Solar cannot hack it yet.
Problem is, we are beng run by a lower class of people.
People incapable of inventing, producing, maintaining, improving.
Lawyers, grifters, and losers.
This is why solar is a dream...this is an average home in St. Petersburg, FL.......
Estimated savings Over 20 years after solar purchase $5,000
Up-front cost After incentives $30,000
Average estimated monthly savings Assuming a 2016 monthly electricity bill of $150 and utility prices rising at a rate of 2.2% per year.
$184 Monthly bill without solar
$38 Monthly bill with solar
$146 Savings per month
You never get the the upfront costs back!!!!!!
And that’s not counting maintenance and insurance costs.....
And Clinton promised to put solar on every home in 10 years!!!
Getting the whole system for free certainly makes the decision easier, even if the system so disappointed the previous owner that he was faced with finding somebody to take it off his hands for no payment.
Most of us aren’t in the position of getting a solar setup for free. We have to make our choices based on spending our own money. Maybe for fair disclosure, you might want to mention that you got your system for free when you post about how well it works for you.
If it’s the best alternative for you, that’s great. From the research I’ve done though, I’d bet that a small gasoline generator would be the best alternative for the vast majority of people looking for power off the grid.
Going off the grid generally means finding ways to cut your consumption to bare bones level, and then cutting it some more. For somebody just using a cabin on weekends, if they’ve cut their consumption that much, they could probably power their limited uses of electricity by putting a single deep cycle battery in a cart and dragging it to their cabin, and just charging the battery with a battery charger at home each time between visits to the cabin. That would be a heck of a lot less expensive than what the actual retail cost of your setup would have been if you had bought it.
Wisconsin, gummint cheese.
On and on and on..
Well, GM waited until the day after the election to announced the closing of two US plants. Since Obambi gave them a few billion dollars we all know the announcement was timed so as not to hurt Hitlery.
The system was not disappointing, he just got a more powerful one and since we were neighbors (he was only five miles away) he offered it to me rather then toting it out.
From the research I’ve done though, I’d bet that a small gasoline generator would be the best alternative for the vast majority of people looking for power off the grid.
Your opinion, everyone has them. But, solar systems outnumber other generator types in that area so I would say no.
Not having to tote in fuel is a big thing. The only people who have (propane) generators are those who need them for medical reasons and they are closer to the main road.
putting a single deep cycle battery in a cart and dragging it to their cabin,
Some have done that. But that is like toting in clean dishes and taking them home to wash. It gets old very fast. They generally buy a couple of panels, leave the battery in place and go with that.
I get it, you don't like solar.
You do what works for you.
I will blow your mind and tell you that most of us don't use chain saws either.
If a major tree comes down we will bring a couple in but for the most part we use axes.
I guess they know the charade is ending soon...
The writing is on the wall. Trump is not going to burn up billions of dollars on solar subsidies. People with stocks in solar companies are going to get crushed.
I am hoping California can’t keep pissing away big money on solar without federal help.
I love solar power and can’t wait until it is economically viable. It will be a boon to our economy and our lives, but that day is many years off. I want the marked to decide what we use, not politics and billions in money extorted from tax payers to subsidize business profits.
The sad irony is that government subsidies make it LESS likely that these new technologies will be effective. If they had to earn private sector investment and revenue from sales, they'd have to produce an effective product.
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