And how much they cost you, Americans:
"Why did solar cell company Konarka fail?" by Scott Kirsner | Globe Correspondent, July 08, 2012
Bic Stevens can remember his first glimpse at some dazzling solar power technology developed at the University of Massachusetts Lowell back in 2001. Scientists had produced a “little quarter-sized solar cell, entirely out of plastic, and it made a little propeller go,” Stevens says. The appeal of a “dirt-cheap,” pliable, and easy-to-manufacture solar material was that almost anything, from the roof of a bus to the top of an Army tent, could start generating electricity from the sun.
One could argue going back to Tesla through to cold fusion that anyone who even sniffs in that direction is co-opted or destroyed by certain powerful intere$t$ that need us to keep con$uming their $ource of energy.
And can you only imagine, Americans, if the TRILLIONS upon TRILLIONS we have WASTED on WALL STREET and WAR had been used for SELF-SUFFICIENT, RENEWABLE ENERGY!?
Stevens put the first $50,000 into creating a company that would commercialize the UMass research, and helped recruit a Nobel prize winner in chemistry to advise the new venture, Konarka Technologies. (The company was named after a temple in India built to honor the sun god Surya.)
Over the next 11 years, Konarka raised $170 million from private investors including Chevron Corp.; secured millions in grants, tax credits, and loans from Republican and Democratic administrations in Massachusetts and Washington; bought an old Polaroid plant in New Bedford to make its “Power Plastic”; hired and then laid off 100 employees; and filed for bankruptcy protection in early June. Konarka’s creditors will meet Tuesday to discuss the disposition of the company’s assets.
Unlike another New England company that is being sold for parts, Providence video game start-up 38 Studios, Konarka was the kind of company that fit perfectly into this region’s research-and-design sweet spot.
$weet $pot for $omeone, anyway.
Related: Rhode Island Blew Save For Schilling
And a Brookline bank took the loss.
While 38 Studios employed artists and game designers to craft a digital fantasy realm, Konarka built a team of PhD’s in chemistry and materials science to develop a solar cell with a wide array of practical uses.
And while 38 Studios was led by a novice entrepreneur, retired Red Sox star Curt Schilling, Konarka’s chief executive, Howard Berke, was a serial entrepreneur who’d previously been involved with videoconferencing and medical imaging companies. 38 Studios was banking on a Hollywood-style blockbuster. Konarka was applying brainpower to bring a scientific breakthrough to market.
So what happened at Konarka?
Employees and investors alike were attracted by the idea of cranking out inexpensive, flexible solar material using a “roll-to-roll” process similar to printing.
But, says Dan Roach, an early Konarka employee, “the unanswered question was always how efficient the product would be” — that is, how much of the available sunlight could it turn into electricity?
Another issue was how long Konarka’s Power Plastic would last, since plastic tends to degrade in sunlight. “If there was a case study written about Konarka,” says Roach, “it might say that this left the academic lab too early. A lot of the venture capital money was spent doing research, and not developing the product.”
They literally burned through it.
Related: VenCap Vroom-Vroom
Now you know where that pension went and why the kid's college bill is so damn high.
While the Army tested Konarka materials for use atop tents, and the company pitched a transparent version of Power Plastic for use on buildings’ windows, only two products ever saw the light of day.
Pun intended?
One was a $180 messenger bag, made by a German retailer, that used Konarka material on the front flap to recharge digital cameras and mobile phones inside. And an Australian company called Sky Shades put Konarka’s material on top of a $10,000 patio umbrella, the SolarBrella, which could supply juice to laptops and other portable electronics. Konarka’s factory in New Bedford was largely idle.
The last outside money that Konarka raised came in 2010, when Konica Minolta Holdings of Japan invested $20 million. When I visited Konarka later that year, the company said the efficiency of its solar cells was still at 3 to 4 percent, while traditional silicon cells were able to hit 15 to 20 percent.
But Berke was selling the vision: “Imagine putting a plastic strip on the back of a smart card and having it power a display on the front.” (He declined to comment for this story.)
Turned out to be a mirage. He must have stared into the sun too long.
“It was hard for Konarka to find that unique place where its product would win out over the alternatives,” says Jonathan Melnick, an analyst who tracks the solar industry at Boston-based Lux Research. “They were very good at raising money, but they almost raised so much that it became a hindrance. It forced them to go to market before they were really ready.”
Daniel Cohen, a former Konarka scientist, says that his team had managed to achieve 9 percent efficiency in the lab earlier this year. “We had good things to show investors,” he says, “and we had more orders in the first month of 2012 than all of 2011.” A partnership with 3M was in the works, too. It felt like the company might pull a rabbit out of a hat once again.
Just where I wanted my tax money going: down a rabbit hole.
But on May 23, Berke called a company meeting and told employees that Konarka hadn’t been able to raise more money, and would cease operations. (Coincidentally, Schilling laid off 38 Studios’ employees the following day.)
Could someone — perhaps even Berke — acquire Konarka’s assets at a bankruptcy sale and continue investing in the technology? I think it’s possible. Melnick at Lux Research says, “There’s certainly some value in their intellectual property, but whoever acquires it just needs to have a longer vision for when they’d expect to turn a profit. It’s not going to be in two years.
Meaning more tax money and venture capital will be pored into losing enterprises.
During this year’s presidential contest, Mitt Romney will no doubt be asked about the $1.5 million grant the state gave Konarka in 2003, when he was governor.
No doubt?
Related: Obama Reflects Sunshine Back Into Romney's Eyes
It was just a quick shine because I haven't seen it mentioned since.
Also see: No Energy For Campaign
Nope, not anymore. I'm sick of s*** fooleys.
And his successor, Deval Patrick, will most likely lose $3.3 million in taxpayer money that his administration lent Konarka to set up its New Bedford plant. Both governors clearly envisioned that a solar material that could be plastered on just about anything would create plenty of jobs in the state.
But, says Stevens, “it was a very tough nut to crack. You look at the amount of money that has gone into the solar industry, and you see it’s a very hard business unless you’re incredibly good and incredibly lucky.”
Translation: Time to move to China.
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Related: A Tale of Two Economies
I hope you can see why I rarely read the business section these days.
Also see: No More Evergreen in Massachusetts
The Vieau From A123
Obama's Ro$e-Colored $ungla$$e$
Add Abound to the li$t:
"Abound Solar declares bankruptcy after $400m US loan" by Matthew L. Wald | New York Times, June 29, 2012
WASHINGTON — Abound Solar, a solar panel maker that received a $400 million loan guarantee from the federal government, said Thursday that it will file for bankruptcy protection amid plummeting prices and intense competition from Chinese manufacturers.
The failure of Abound, which had tapped about $68 million of the loan guarantee before the Energy Department cut off its credit last September, comes after the collapse last year of Solyndra, another high-tech solar panel maker that had received federal funds....
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Related: Solar Stimuloot Went to Goldman Sachs
And they are raising rates?!!
"Wind, solar subsidy set for review; Program's growth spurs fairness issue" by David Abel Globe Staff / July 23, 2012
The array of solar panels recently installed on Ian Bowles’s slate roof in Jamaica Plain should pay off for him in less than a decade, but the green power the state’s former top environmental official generates may cost other utility customers for many more years.
Bowles and the increasing number of homeowners, businesses, and municipalities connecting solar panels and wind turbines to the region’s power grid receive a little-known subsidy, and the cost is being borne by other utility customers, who may soon pay anywhere from a dime to as much as $100 more on their monthly electricity bills.
The surcharge on customers who do not feed into the grid has become increasingly controversial as state lawmakers this month hash out the language in a bill that would double the amount of power that utility companies could buy from those producing their own energy.
Oooooooooh, this is about YOUR INDEPENDENCE, fellow state resident! This is NOT ABOUT the GOOD of the ENVIRONMENT at all! This is about YOU BEING HOOKED UP to the GOVERNMENT GRID because they all want us to be DEPENDENT on THEM!!!
It is about the $AME THING it is ALWAY$ ABOUT!
“At a certain point, there’s absolutely a fair argument about the equity of this,” said Bowles, the former secretary of energy and environmental affairs, who argues that the benefits of reducing harmful carbon emissions outweigh the relatively small costs to utility customers.
I am SO SICK of being SOLD that HOT FART MIST after the scientists spent TEN YEARS HIDING the DECLINE!!
As lawmakers debate whether to raise the cap on the state’s so-called net metering program to 6 percent of the maximum amount of electricity that utilities can produce on days when demand peaks, utility representatives, business groups, and ratepayer advocates have raised concerns about the fairness of continuing a program designed to spark the growth of solar and wind power, which are now being adopted more rapidly....
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Also see: NStar Passes Wind On To Customers
Maybe this will Brighton your day:
"With the state financially strapped, Massachusetts officials are searching for creative ways to maintain its vast array of public parks, swimming pools, ice rinks, and other public amenities."
State financially strapped?
Mass. economy outpaces US
Then they must be mismanaging the finances something terrible!
Related: Massachusetts loses 2,600 jobs
Oh, I'm sorry; turns out I was being lied to again by the sack of s*** agenda-pushing paper.
