BP Solar just announced the closing of their solar cell manufacturing plant in Frederick, Maryland.
http://www.pv-tech.org/...
BP Solar has closed down its silicon casting, wafering, and cell manufacturing facility based in Frederick, MD, effective Friday March 26. Approximately 320 positions have been eliminated out of 430 positions at the location.
Big Loss for both the local area and for clean energy technology jobs in the USA. I wonder if the mainstream media will pick up the story?
Other that making if clear that just about everyone is losing their job at the facility, the press release was fairly light on details. Although one item jumped out.
said BP Solar CEO Rayad Fezzani. "By shifting our supply to a high quality, low cost supply base to serve both distribution customers and large scale projects, we have strengthened our position as a provider of competitive solar solutions with our offer of the highest lifetime value.
Hmmm. Low cost supply base. Sounds like MBA management double speak for out-sourcing the manufacturing to an off-shore (Asian) photovoltaic supplier and one of the comments in the linked article implied just that.
As for the the Frederick, MD facility. It's been making solar cells for more than 30 years - previously under the name of Solarex before being acquired by BP about 10 years ago. The facility always seemed like something that the USA should be proud of for it's long-term contribution to advancing clean energy (photovoltaic) technology - and now both the facility and most if not all of the scientific talent is gone.
GE Solar closed up shop a few months ago (in Newark, DE) and now BP Solar in Frederick, MD is gone. It seems like lately we're going backwards instead of forwards in terms of creating a new clean energy technology economy.
In fairness, these were likely reasonable business decisions. So is the burden on Congress to change the law to encourage these companies to promote clean technology in the USA instead of outsourcing domestic clean energy technology jobs the first chance they get?