After 35 years of losing money in solar, BP calls it quits.
When you are "rolling in dough," like Google, Microsoft, Apple, and others, and you need a) some tax credits; and, b) some good PR, you might as well play around with solar.
But when you are getting socked with ever-increasing fines for an oil spill, you need to cut your losses and start making some money.
As far as energy companies in the solar business, Enbridge has the largest solar play in all of Canada. The engineering professor sounds like he doesn't understand business. Businesses are in the business of making money for their owners. Owners generally don't care what business they are in as long as they are making money, so that crazy talk about oil companies putting themselves out of business if they really got successful with solar is just that: crazy talk.
The linked article? Hard to figure out if it's a news article or an editorial. All most folks need to know is that BP is getting out of solar after trying to make it work for 35 years. That speaks volumes.
By the way, how is First Solar doing these days? Back in 2008, a share of First Solar was trading for $300. Today First Solar is trading for $26. As recently as July, 2011, it was trading for $133, but ever since it's just been heading downward. For 4Q12 it earned $1.74/share, but for the year (2012), First Solar lost $1.11.
And so it goes.
Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any financial decisions based on what you read here. Based on my experience as one who has been investing for 30+ years, I can say with some confidence that had you bought 100 shares of FirstSolar back in 2008, and still held those shares, you would be ... unhappy.
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