Another government-backed solar company declares bankruptcy.
Abound Solar Inc., a U.S. solar
manufacturer that was awarded a $400 million U.S. loan
guarantee, will suspend operations and file for bankruptcy
because its panels were too expensive to compete.
Abound borrowed about $70 million against the guarantee,
the Loveland, Colorado-based company said today in a statement.
It plans to file for bankruptcy protection in Wilmington,
Delaware, next week.
The failure will follow that of Solyndra LLC, which shut
down in August after receiving a $535 million loan guarantee
from the same U.S. Energy Department program. Abound stopped
production in February to focus on reducing costs after a global
oversupply and increasing competition from China drove down the
price of solar panels by half last year.
I'm not exactly sure what it means to "stop production to focus on reducing costs." Stopping production will certainly cut costs. Maybe I'm missing something. I think what they meant to say:
Abound stopped production in February to focus on how to tell the President it aint' gonna work and to start writing press releases to blame it on the Chinese.