July 4, 2012

Green Jobs

From Bloomberg:
GE Halts Construction on Solar Plant as Prices Plunge
General Electric Co. (GE) is suspending construction of a Colorado thin-film solar factory, slated to be the biggest in the U.S., as prices for the panels tumble amid a manufacturing-capacity glut.

Work will be halted for at least 18 months, Danielle Merfeld, the general manager of solar technologies, said in a telephone interview.

GE, which draws about 30 percent of sales from energy businesses including wind and solar, will use the delay to modify the plant�s design and focus on boosting the efficiency of its solar modules. The Fairfield, Connecticut-based company announced the $300 million plant in October, with plans to hire 350 workers and begin shipments to customers in 2013.

�Over the past six months, the industry has shifted pretty rapidly,� Merfeld said. �We�ve seen about a 50 percent price drop for modules over this period and there�s a lot of unabated overcapacity out there.�
Labor in China is about $2/hour and they are engaged in an active campaign of dumping -- selling merch to us at lower than their cost to make. This drives our own manufacturers out of business and China will raise the prices once they have cleaned out all that pesky innovation and competition. The way to counteract this is to do what General Electric has already done with their entire Medical Imaging division (here, here and here) -- it is now a Chinese company. As for that line about: GE, which draws about 30 percent of sales from energy businesses including wind and solar, To quote that wild and crazy guy Excuuuuuse Meee!. General Electric's Energy Division generates $37 Billion in annual revenue and employs 82,000 people (numbers are from 2010) This is about 25% of total revenues for all of General Electric (all GE number from 2012) Wind and solar are a fraction of what they do -- the vast majority comes from the manufacture of traditional generating and power distribution equipment as well as a very busy nuclear unit including a 60%(GE)/40%(HIT) partnership with Hitachi. GE is just playing the numbers and seeking the loopholes. Nothing wrong with that -- what they are doing has to have been checked over by an army of lawyers. The fix needs to come from our side -- close the fscking loopholes! Posted by DaveH at July 4, 2012 8:02 PM
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