Abound Solar Bankruptcy

The US government grants and loans to green energy companies has not given good results, frequently resulting in big bankruptcies. The reason is that the green companies are capital intensive and require a long period of support before they can become viable. The stiff competition posed by the Asian companies has also made the terrain adverse for the US green startups. Solyndra was a spectacular blow out as it destroyed more than a billion dollars of private and public funding in a couple of years. The huge grants given to the company vanished, as the company’s CIGs solar products could not withstand the low cost competition from the Chinese low cost crystalline silicon panel makers. Other solar thin film technology startups have fared equally badly. Either they have sold themselves very cheaply or have simply wound up like Solyndra.

Abound Solar which also raised a ton of money to commercialize its Cd-Te thin film solar panels was one such company. The company was using the same technology as First Solar and had invested money to build a commercial plant. But like most other companies it got caught in the huge solar downturn and declared bankruptcy. Note most Cd-Te technology companies have shut shop, with even giant GE also putting its Cd-Te technology in cold storage given the current industry situation. Only First Solar is forging ahead, though it seems to be fighting a losing battle in my view.

Read on GWI Top 12 Solar Companies in USA still surviving the brutal downturn.

Abound Solar’s manufacturing site in Colorado has become a source of controversy, with nobody left to clean up the site which contains lot of broken glass and equipment. Also Cadmium which is used in making the panels is highly hazardous to humans and would require special treatment to be disposed off. The company wanted to build a 400 MW plant with 1500 workers but the dream turned out to be false as the company failed. Now the Republican news outlets are having a gala time making fun of Obama’s DOE program to support the green companies.