It seems to be a trend now, last October it was Siemens who gave up on solar, now it is British Petroleum, who has been in the solar business nearly 40 years, and has made the last closure announcements, finalizing what they announced in 2011.
In the news today:
(Reuters) – British oil major BP shut down the remnants of its solar unit on Wednesday, drawing a line under the business on which most of its Beyond Petroleum tagline of the early 2000s was premised.
The unit, which BP has been scaling back since 2008, is the latest sun energy business to fall victim to rampant competition from China, falling prices, overcapacity and lower government subsidies on which the industry still depends.
Solar Millennium on Wednesday became the second German solar company to file for insolvency in December, following module maker Solon.
U.S. company Solyndra LLC folded earlier in 2011 while Swiss bank Sarasin said in a recent study that Conergy and Q-Cells were among the German solar companies most exposed to the sector’s crisis.
“The continuing global economic challenges have significantly impacted the solar industry, making it difficult to sustain long term returns for the company, despite our best efforts,” BP said in an internal letter to staff.
The company confirmed on Wednesday that it plans to exit its large-scale projects at Long Haven in the U.S. and Moree in Australia.
BP announced plans in July to abandon its household and industrial rooftop solar activities to concentrate on the larger projects but said on December15 that even those were no longer viable.
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Maybe the British + the Australian governments and Obama’s shiny new EPA chief should mandate every home, business and bicycle should have a solar panels or face heavy fines or a stint in the coal mines. Yeah that will create a demand!!!!
New logo? Maybe a Sinclair dinosaur munching on a thicket of windmills.
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Go to this site and nominate Anthony Watts as a Climate Change Abolitionist!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/interactive/climate-change-abolitionists-fighting-sustainable-world
“….and lower government subsidies on which the industry still depends. …”
So was this truly an industry or was it a grand government experiment that has failed.
What a Rogues’ Gallery — the batting line-up starts: McKibben, Hansen, Mann, Pachauri, Gore.
Perhaps they’ll make a card deck out of them and start giving them away with baby formula and bubble gum.
My company (AGC Flat Glass) closed it’s North American solar division last November.
It’s over….
“The continuing global economic challenges have significantly impacted the solar industry, making it difficult to sustain long term returns for the company, despite our best efforts,” BP said in an internal letter to staff.
————————-
The investors are leaving in droves, eh.
I guess we’re cooked now, right ?
It was a plan to save the world when it started wasn’t it ?
It appears you’ve given up. Towards what reality.
jim2 says:
March 7, 2013 at 7:15 pm
Go to this site and nominate Anthony Watts as a Climate Change Abolitionist!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/interactive/climate-change-abolitionists-fighting-sustainable-world
======================================
That should be the wall of shame…A good 90% of those folks are criminals. ECO TERRORISTS and such… They way they all lie is rather disheartening…
Tom in Florida says:
March 7, 2013 at 7:16 pm
“….and lower government subsidies on which the industry still depends. …”
So was this truly an industry or was it a grand government experiment that has failed.
========================================
Government sponsored FAILURE…
and we all paid for this foolishness…
jim2 at 7:15 Go to this site and nominate Anthony Watts as a Climate Change Abolitionist!
Abolitionsists, or slavers? Oh the noble cause! Isn’t it pathetic and childish? Transparently ignoble?
Interesting! Solar power is not that hi-tech, I can’t understand why they don’t get it.
1) Plant an oak tree.
2) Cut down the tree after it has converted enough solar energy H2O, and CO2 into wood.
3) Cut up the wood and ignite it so the energy can be released.
4) Repeat.
It works every time it’s tried….
Today I was watching a Science Discovery Channel program on big machinery. The episode was about the largest mining machine in the world. It’s located at a surface coal mine next to a power plant in Germany.
What’s interesting is the comment about the station’s output and the mention of the huge number of wind turbines it would take to replace it.
Might be another indicator of changing views.
jim2 says:
March 7, 2013 at 7:15 pm
——
Loser, word not spoken.
Try another one.
Looked for article link… Was this an article from Dec 2011?
Seems to read the same. Do you have an updated link to a newer story?
BP turns out lights at solar business
LONDON | Wed Dec 21, 2011 11:29am EST
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/21/us-bp-solar-idUSTRE7BK1CC20111221
And so China corners the Global solar power market to … do … what exactly? Other than burn up a lot of government capital from the rest of us.
Well, the wailing greenies cannot lament that it’s for lack of trying. It wouldn’t have lasted this long except for the subsidies. Seriously, there shouldn’t be such a thing, or, if so, subsidies should only last a year. What a massive waste of taxpayer dollars the world over. Thank God solar is crashing, or those pay outs would never bleeding end.
Couldn’t compete with China, there is going to be a lot more of this going on in the present climate, i.e. production outstripping demand by a factor of 2
http://gigaom.com/2012/12/25/5-charts-that-show-the-amazing-growth-in-solar-in-2012-charts/
I predict panel prices are going to fall even more, already solar is cheaper than new coal in some countries and it’s only going to get cheaper, I predict we are going to see a boom in solar but only the strongest panel manufacturers with the lowest cost structures will survive, that is in China…
Hopefully we can soon get the US government to stop wasting our tax dollars on Solar rather than doubling down on failed energy subsidies. There is too much evidence that this is a lost cause except in special situations.
No, instead we will pull back on border security, White House tours for kids, airport security, etc.
DAV says:
March 7, 2013 at 7:47 pm
Today I was watching a Science Discovery Channel program on big machinery. The episode was about the largest mining machine in the world. It’s located at a surface coal mine next to a power plant in Germany.
What’s interesting is the comment about the station’s output and the mention of the huge number of wind turbines it would take to replace it.
Might be another indicator of changing views.
Do you mean this machine????? 🙂
It should read ‘Siemens’ not ‘Seimens’.
[Reply: Fixed, thanks. — mod.]
I was still working for bp when they rolled out the “Beyond Petroleum” branding. That branding still brings on a gag reflex. I worked my entire carrer in the natural gas production and processing business with first Amoco and then bp when they bought Amoco back in 1998. The fields and facilities I worked wirh made a lot of money for the company and when we saw that the company was going whole hog with the “beyond petroleum” bs, we were, to say the least, pretty discouraged. All the while, our maintenance and capital budgets were cut year after year. I retired in 2003 but then consulted for bp in 2005-2007. When anyone asks who I worked for I say, “bp but I’m heritage Amoco”. That makes a big difference in our world. (Oh, and do we ever have some names for that logo! And, no, I won’t tell you!)
RENIXX (an index tracking the world’s largest solar and wind “Renewable” energy companies) has tanked over 90% since 2008; it’s collapsing about as fast as CAGW theory.
Do you think a correlation exists between these two phenomena?
The business model for large-scale solar and wind technology is a massive failure. There is perhaps, a niche market for wind/solar providing an intermitent and expensive back-up power system for individuals but that’s about it. The cost/kWh makes solar/wind uncompetive and wasteful on a large scale basis.
http://markets.ft.com/research/Markets/Tearsheets/Summary?s=RENX:GER
In my opinion, Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors (LFTRs) are by far the most logical and sustainable “renewable” alternative energy source available in terms of providing unlimited power at a cost cheaper than existing conventional fossil fuel sources.
DaveG says:
March 7, 2013 at 6:58 pm
Maybe the British + the Australian governments and Obama’s shiny new EPA chief should mandate every home, business and bicycle should have a solar panels or face heavy fines or a stint in the coal mines. Yeah that will create a demand!!!!
++++++
CA is already ahead of this notion. We have mandates to purchase energy from renewable sources, if I recall to the tune of 33% by 2020. We are being FORCED to by this expensive energy. That’s how stupid the CA pubic is where I live. It’s unbelievable.
Lets see? In the past few days we have discovered on WUWT that the Temperature is cooling or stable, the water vapor level in the air is falling and soler energy firms are folding. Is that a hat trick? I certainly hope so. Al Bore, eat your heart out.
@stan stendera says:
March 7, 2013 at 9:23 pm
Lets see? In the past few days we have discovered on WUWT that the Temperature is cooling or stable, the water vapor level in the air is falling and soler energy firms are folding. Is that a hat trick? I certainly hope so. Al Bore, eat your heart out.
+++++
yes – hat trick, and Gore got rich off of the stupid saps that he scared the hell out of. He’s now rich off of the taxpayers’ sweat and labor. And CA seems poised to put the frosting on the stale cake. This is just UNBELIEVABLE what’s going on.