USA losing Green Jobs as Solar Companies shut US plants and Outsource Production to Mexico and China

USA’s Green Energy Policies seemed misguided when Obama visited Solyndra a company whose very existence is suspect.The CIGs company had been made a media darling and a huge DOE loan grant to expand manufacturing.This is despite the fact that Solyndra has to shelve its IPO due to poor response.The Billion Dollar Grant to Abengoa and Abound Solar seems a continuation of this misguided policy.The proof of these policies being proved to be bad is the fact that more and more US Solar companies are shutting down their domestic plants and outsourcing production overseas.This is due to the lack of subsidy and support from the US government which seems to favor only certain companies.Existing solar companies like Evergreen,Energy Conversion Devices and Sunpower are getting beaten black and blue by the low cost Asian companies.These companies don’t have a choice but to move production to lower cost locations in order to survive.

Energy Conversion Devices also cuts down US production and increases Manufacturing in Mexico

All US Solar Companies have majority of their  production being manufactured outside of the USA except for Energy Conversion Devices (ENER).Now ENER is also joining the rest of its peers as it cuts down jobs in the USA and increases production in Mexico.This should have come much earlier as ENER continues to lose loads of money due to its high cost operations.Note the other major companies like First Solar and Sunpower have almost 90-100% of their solar modules being made in Asia while Evergreen Solar has also recently outsourced production to China.This trend goes contrary to what US administration is advertising as the creation of a large number of Green Jobs due to the Stimulus.The Senate has given up on the Climate and Energy Bill while EPA’s regulation of carbon emissions is also uncertain.Big investors are shunning the USA while putting money into Green Manufacturing and Investments as China takes over the Global Green Energy Leadership .

Energy Conversion to cut 140 jobs at Auburn Hills – Reuters

Solar company Energy Conversion Devices Inc said on Wednesday it would cut about 140 jobs at its Auburn Hills, Michigan, facility and in the autumn, shift some operations to Tijuana, Mexico.

L ast year, Energy Conversion cut about 70 jobs and announced some furloughs to bring production in line with demand. Given the glut of panels in the market, it was forced to slash utilization to as low as 25 percent in the third quarter.