How bad are prospects for solar manufacturing in Oregon? (Jack Bog's Blog)

They sure don't seem good. Yesterday the headline on OregonLive about the SolarWorld complaint against the Chinese labeled that company as "facing fight for survival." The story itself notes that "a look at the company's share values underscores the extreme pressure SolarWorld faces. In the most recent decline, the stock has fallen from 11.89 euros April 6 to 3.05 euros Wednesday on the Frankfurt exchange."

As for other players in the solar manufacturing game --

Lars Dannenberg, a Berenberg Bank analyst in London, sees the Chinese squeeze behind the fall. Dannenberg says solar cells and panels are rapidly becoming commodities, with little or no price premium for brand and quality of the type SolarWorld promotes. He expects developments during the next 15 months to determine whether SolarWorld survives, as falling prices force industry consolidation.
"In the end, there will be five companies" worldwide, Dannenberg predicted. Three to five companies will survive in China, he said. One U.S. manufacturer, likely First Solar, will endure. And one European company will remain, he said.

But that heavily subsidized SoloPower plant out by Kelley Point in North Portland is going to create 500 jobs over the long term. Honest.

Comments (6)

Great - Look who is on our side Congress. They have three levers - Raise taxes, pass a law and spend money now. The hubris that we can tax China into making us competitive is amazing.

Unfortunately, our competitiveness is going to require us becoming better workers whether that means skills (ie better schools) or infrastructure (Korea has very high speed internet access cheap). Punishing China s going to get us as far as subsidizing horseshoers when they invented the automobile.

In addition, spending money on subsidies (that'll be become big bonuses for guys like SoloPower) means that much less for education and infrastructure.

Posted by Steve | October 20, 2011 9:38 AM

Isn't the local kool-aid turning bitter, yet?

Put this bird on it --
http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/science-questions/question608.htm

Posted by Mojo | October 20, 2011 11:37 AM

10 Things Still Made in America
By Joe Mont
http://www.thestreet.com/story/11279838/1/10-things-still-made-in-america.html

baseball bats, guitars, crayons....

Posted by Mojo | October 20, 2011 12:16 PM

Will this mean our water rates will go up again in order to cover the company's losses?

Posted by Mr. Grumpy | October 20, 2011 2:22 PM

We need solar energy because...?

Wednesday, October 19, 2011
The Rust Belt Comes Back to Life: Shale Gas Revolution Could Bring 200,000 Jobs to Ohio
Steubenville, Ohio = "Little Saudi Arabia"

http://abcnews.go.com/US/boom-town-ohio-town-sees-thousands-jobs/story?id=14761821

ABC NEWS -- "Steubenville, Ohio, may not look like a city sitting on a multi-billion dollar industry. Unemployment here reached 15 percent in 2010, and a now-shuttered steel mill -- which was once the lifeline of the Steubenville economy -- is now just a painful reminder of what used to be. While the old way is gone for good -- a new way has already changed lives.

Two huge shale formations -- the Marcellus and Utica -- lay underneath a five-state region. Steubenville sits right on the epicenter of the Marcellus formation, ready to absorb all the new positions needed to open new and repurposed old wells. In a matter of months, rigs will begin to dot the landscape, and current and former residents hope the money will line their pockets.

More than 300 new jobs have already come to the Steubenville area. And as many as 10,000 more are expected in the next three years. If jobs keep growing at this pace, every adult in Steubenville could be working by April.

No one in Steubenville can remember the last time anyone heard of a job that paid as much as $77,000 a year coming to town, but those jobs are coming. There could be more than 200,000 of them in Ohio in the next few years."

In additions to more jobs, another benefit of increased natural gas production is that it would help lower energy costs for American manufacturers, increasing their competitiveness. The National Association of Manufacturers explains:

"Manufacturers, users of approximately one-third of the energy consumed in the United States, strongly support the use of hydraulic fracturing to access our nation’s abundant supply of natural gas. We use natural gas not only as a source of electricity, but as a feedstock for products such as plastics, fertilizer and pharmaceuticals. Affordable natural gas provides manufacturers with the ability to expand their facilities, increase production and create even more jobs. It is critically important that the states and the federal government not stand in the way of our access to these valuable resources."

Posted by Fred Stovel | October 20, 2011 3:18 PM

Will the natural gas industry or government start advocating for more natural gas vehicles and gas heating/cooling/manufacturing? It is cheaper to produce than solar/wind electricity, easier to distribute than solar/wind electricity since much of the infrastructure is in place. And it isn't subsidized by taxpayers as much as solar or wind.

But, at least, we should have a more balanced approach in our energy components.

Posted by lw | October 20, 2011 8:04 PM

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Thursday, October 20, 2011

How bad are prospects for solar manufacturing in Oregon?

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