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| Economy |
| LG Electronics Shutters Alabama Solar Factory Amid ‘Rising Commodity Costs’ |
| 2022-02-24 |
| [ZeroHedge] Soaring material costs, supply chain constraints, and intensified price competition are some of the reasons why LG Electronics Inc. will shutter its solar factory in Huntsville, Alabama, according to a company press release. "The decision comes as uncertainties in the global solar panel business continue to increase due to a variety of contributing factors, including the intensification of price competition and the rising cost of raw materials," LG said. Soaring commodity prices have sent solar-grade polysilicon prices up more than 550% in the last two years. Polysilicon is a critical raw material in producing solar photovoltaic cells for panels. Other commodity prices have risen, along with soaring labor and freight costs have added to LG's margin compression where it appears solar production has become uneconomical. The plant was opened in 2019 with 550 megawatts of annual panel output. Panel production is expected to wind down next month and officially shut down at the end of June. Around 160 employees and 60 contract workers will be fired or shifted to other LG manufacturing units. |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #10 Texas winter storm/tornado/hurricane break the power grid? Texas storms cover them with ice or snow that lasts for days. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2022-02-24 23:31 |
| #9 If the point is disaster resilience, then everyday payout isn’t the point. The question how much is the insurance worth when the hackers or the Texas winter storm/tornado/hurricane break the power grid? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2022-02-24 22:11 |
| #8 a large part is also the utility companies resisting full credit for solar power fed back into their system. If you are only looking at solar for disaster/battery backup, cool. But you'll never recover your costs if the local utility doesn't buy back your supply during sunny hours. They still have to keep capacity during weak solar/wind hours, like.....night? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2022-02-24 20:30 |
| #7 How much of this is the CCP making production outside China uneconomical by throttling necessary parts/materials exports? |
| Posted by: magpie 2022-02-24 18:11 |
| #6 Bare solar cells aren’t that expensive. The real problem is the M&S involved in getting them installed on the roof and integrated into the electrical system, especially if batteries are involved. |
| Posted by: KBK 2022-02-24 14:12 |
| #5 Solar thermal have interesting niche uses: solar water heaters, solar chimneys for passive cooling, glass windows facing the winter sun and other passive improvements. Solar electricity, not so useful... |
| Posted by: magpie 2022-02-24 13:18 |
| #4 ^^^ I'm beginning to think the same thing. We've been at this solar power thing for 50 years now, and it seems still to be unviable. The sun is, after all, 93 million miles away. Maybe its energy and power just disperses too much to provide effective and efficient power to the earth, aside from what it does naturally every day. |
| Posted by: Tom 2022-02-24 10:18 |
| #3 Solar Power was oversold as a home electrical solution. The MTBF and actual costs (without Federal/State $$$$) meant there was never really a viable ROI. But a lot of Politicians, friends, and family raked in the $$$$$. |
| Posted by: nn2n1 2022-02-24 09:42 |
| #2 Same thing in Hawaii...originally 300 solar plants existed in 2015....only 98 left last time I checked. |
| Posted by: crazyhorse 2022-02-24 01:28 |
| #1 A proposed major school building program in my district has come to a halt even before plans have been drawn up, due to this same issue. However, the taxes to pay for this are still being levied. |
| Posted by: Bubba Lover of the Faeries8843 2022-02-24 00:07 |