Solar Panel Maker Moves Work to China
BEIJING — Aided by at least $43 million in assistance from the government of Massachusetts and an innovative solar energy technology, Evergreen Solar emerged in the last three years as the third-largest maker of solar panels in the United States.
The company is closing its main American factory, laying off the 800 workers by the end of March and shifting production to a joint venture with a Chinese company in central China. Evergreen cited the much higher government support available in China.
Stephanie Mueller, the Energy Department press secretary, said the department was committed to supporting renewable energy. “Through our Loan Program Office we have offered conditional commitments for loan guarantees to 16 clean energy projects totaling nearly $16.5 billion,” she said. “We have finalized and closed half of those loan guarantees, and the program has ramped up significantly over the last year to move projects through the process quickly and efficiently while protecting taxpayer interests.”
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My response to our dedicated guardians of the fourth estate:
Sir:
You and your team quoted Stephanie Mueller.
She did _not_ address the DOE's LPO lack of support for photovoltaics. Loan programs 1703 and 1705 indeed funded 16 projects. The following technologies were supported by 14 loans:
nuclear plant
U enrichment
coal plant scrubber raw material
2 concentrating solar power (CSP) technology with storage capability.
battery storage on-grid
flywheel storage 20 MW essentially early stage development
2 geothermal
3 wind
transmission line
smart glass
The _remaining 2 loans_ were to entities involved in photovoltaics.
As you can see, designating some supported projects clean or novel technology is a stretch. Mueller bullshitted you, and you could have "clarified" her statement by spending 30 min on the inet.
Pretty lame reporting.
Next time, I'll charge the NYT a consultant fee.
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