Evergreen Solar announces some China plans (New Green Jobs already outsourced)

[Coventina]

Source: Boston Globe

Evergreen Solar Inc., a Marlborough company that makes solar power products, announced a wafer factory and subcontractor relationship in China.

Evergreen Solar said it has entered into a frame agreement with Jiawei Solar Co. and the Wuhan Donghu New Technology Development Zone Management Committee that calls for a significant expansion of String Ribbon wafer manufacturing in Wuhan, China.

"The parties expect to finalize the terms of the manufacturing relationship over the next 90 days, including obtaining project financing and other approvals and permits, and plan to begin production in the second quarter of 2010," Evergreen Solar said in a press release.

(snip)

Earlier this week, Evergreen Solar said its first-quarter sales more than doubled from a year earlier, but it lost $64.3 million after writing off a loan to a silicon supplier, the AP reported.


Read more: http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2009/05/evergreen_solar_22.html

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*sigh*

:-(

[LostinVA]

1. Gosh, weren't green jobs THE one sector thatw as supposed to bring jobs to Americans?

As long as ONE AMERICAN is unemployed (not by choice), not one job should be outsourced.

The cobbler's children have no shoes in this country. It's disgusting.

[xchrom]

3. +1 -- ain't that right. nt

[Blue Meany]

6. I generally agree with this, but we for the sake of our

economy and our environment (on which our future economy and our lives depend), we need to get up solar panels every where we can as fast as we can. I've looked around, and those produced in Shenzen are much cheaper than those produced here. If the company passes on the savings, rather than just increasing its own profits, I am ok with this for now. I'm afraid Asia and Europe are passing us up on green technology. In Japan and northern Europe residential heat pumps are widely available and used; in Japan and parts of Canada, residential fuel cells are available; induction cookers, which use half or less of the electricity of regular electric stoves are inexepensive and widely available all over Asia but are expensive "luxury" items in the US. The really low energy appliances, often using half the energy of the best available in the US, are from Europe, Asia, and ocassionally Australia. I could go on.

It is frustrating because lowering household energy use requires a much higher capital investment in the US than anywhere else, and, we are paying more for inferior products, because most of the foreign products cannot be serviced here. This is not good for our economy and it is a serious impediment to those of us who are trying to live a greener lifestyle.

[Selatius]

11. "If the company passes on the savings..." You have to admit that is a gigantic "if"

Most corporations have a sizable number of shareholders to satisfy, including green companies. They could just as easily demand that the company increase its own profits rather than pass on the savings because the shareholders want payback on their investment (and they typically do).

[LostinVA]

18. The Governmnet could control the costs and keep the jobs here

[NickB79]

19. Building solar panels in China has a huge environmental impact

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/08/AR2008030802595.html

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/03/solar_pollution_china.php

Those cheaper solar panels come at a cost that most people don't realize.

[heronkid]

20. Build the wafers here - we can do it safely, environmentally right

and a reasonable cost. But we cannot compete with $20/wk wages.
So the only way is to put tariffs on Chinese products.
But our Congress is too much under the sway of lobbyists.
So do they represent us or themselves?

[Mari333]

31. americans dont have jobs so they cannot afford it

cant afford to buy solar panels for their homes. shit, they can barely afford to keep food on their table.
you gotta pay peter to feed paul. otherwise paul and peter are both up shit creek.

[OhioChick]

12. +2 n/t

[harmonicon]

23. no point in just making solar panels

The way that "green" jobs can help the US economy is going to be through large infrastructure projects, like wind farms. Installing wind turbines can't be outsourced, nor can regular maintenance. These sort of things also won't be brought about by private companies, but by local, state, and federal government.

As in all shit like this, don't blame this one company, blame capitalism.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

33. Precisely!

As long as we live in a system where everything is for sale, this will always happen. The dollar reigns supreme and capitalists are merely following the plan that says 'make as much as you, as fast as you can'
:shrug:

[WriteDown]

2. Solar wafer manufacturing...

produces a lot of nasty byproducts. This is probably an effort to bypass environmental regulations.

[truthisfreedom]

5. nanosolar.com uses printing technology, manufactures in US and Germany

I agree, they probably have no choice but to mfr in China.

[Deja Q]

27. Agreed. Let's level the whole fucking playing field.

Wages, regulations (which are not bad, for those are why we ever had anything approaching quality products in the first place! :dunce: ), being responsible, fessing up to errors, you name it.

[xchrom]

4. recommend

[iandhr]

7. This was long time coming I bet

After we pass the clean energy bill if I high percentage of jobs a still outscored then I would me mad

[paulsby]

8. i've played this stock a lot

it's a very speculative company

[HughBeaumont]

9. The Randist's dream coming to it's logical conclusion.

Listen to me, you corporate bean counter mothershitters:

WHAT ARE AMERICANS GOING TO DO FOR A SUSTAINABLE INCOME?

Seriously. You offshored blue collar work. You offshored, H1'd and L1'd white collar work. Now you're offshoring nanotech, biotech and environmental jobs. College degrees are all but worthless. I'm all ears, WHAT in the hell are we going to do for a job that pays better than 30 grand a year? WHAT?

Idiots. We cannot do each other's hair, serve each other food, fix each other's cars and remain active participants in your economy. We cannot do it. Nor can we all be "owners" because we don't have the start up capital, product/services or the insane amount of luck it takes.

A living wage is of the utmost necessity for an economy to thrive. I know that's NOT what you want to hear, but all the wishing in the world won't make it different. Stagnant wages, rising costs and too few jobs for way too many people in need of them is the ultimate mixture of disaster.

The private sector is not creating jobs here at all. Bean counter Friedman economics is killing us all.

[OhioChick]

13. Well said as usual, Hugh. n/t

[Canuckistanian]

17. Amen

It's thinking like this that's going to KILL North America's economy.

[Trajan]

21. Thanks for this ....

Sounds like one of my own rants ....

During this downturn, Chinese plants were IDLED and Chinese workers laid off ..... why ?

Because American workers stopped making purchases ...

IF worker incomes in the US continue their downward slide - There will be no need for offshore manufacturing ...

[Deja Q]

26. Well, we're helping other countries' economies - then they bleat and mewl because ours is going down

:dunce:

:shrug:

Bean counters? More like magic beans... which don't grow big beanstalks to magical lands where giants with small wieners and a penchant for hating the British live...

[Dappleganger]

28. Can I hear an AMEN?

Preach it!

[Vinca]

10. I swear, unless you're a plumber or a funeral director, your job

can be outsourced (and I can imagine the day a body is shipped to China for services). This really pisses me off. How does Evergreen Solar expect jobless Americans to buy their products?

[OhioChick]

14. Screw the plumbing and funeral director work, too.

I know a plumber. He tells me that business is slow. No one can afford it anymore. People are taking those free "Do It Yourself" classes at Home Depot.

As for funeral directors.....many are opting for cremation now.....cheaper.

[ChromeFoundry]

15. Last week, "green" (white collar) jobs went to India

US offshores 22,000 green jobs to India

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3850836

This week, "green" (blue collar) to China.

What the hell is left here?

[Mari333]

32. burger flipping, truck stop hooker. ..

shoe shine boy
CEO ass wiper
mercenary

[bvar22]

16. Cheap Labor is wonderful for "The Investor Class".

For those of us who work for a living....not so much.

I would be nice if the Working Class had some representation in Washington.


"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans. I want us to compete for that great mass of voters that want a party that will stand up for working Americans, family farmers, and people who haven't felt the benefits of the economic upturn."---Paul Wellstone

[Deja Q]

25. Workers need to be the investors. How can we buy up company stocks and have say?

TRUE ownership. TRUE merit. TRUE community. Not this pyramid scheme.

[Trajan]

22. Solarworld ....

http://www.solarworld-usa.com/SolarWorld-Opens-North.2679.0.html

SolarWorld Opens North America’s Largest Solar Cell Manufacturing Facility

Solar pioneer's approach to high-volume manufacturing provides foundation for new economy dominated by “green jobs”

Hillsboro, Ore., October 17, 2008 – SolarWorld, a world leader in high quality solar power technology, today opens North America’s largest solar cell manufacturing facility. The new plant is located in Hillsboro, Oregon and is expected to reach a capacity of 500 megawatts (MW) by 2011.

Solar power is increasingly considered the most promising energy alternative because of advances in technology and high-volume manufacturing. Facilities like the one SolarWorld is pioneering will reduce the costs of solar power and increase the number of green jobs, accelerating commercial and residential installations of solar panels and overall economic growth.

“The need for affordable and efficient energy alternatives represents a global issue and is more critical than ever,” said Frank A. Asbeck, CEO of SolarWorld. “SolarWorld has more than 30 years invested in solar technologies and today is helping to bring real alternatives to market through a strategy focused on high-volume manufacturing. The new Hillsboro facility is our most shining example of this strategy in practice.”

The solar industry is expected to grow to $74 billion in 2017 from $20 billion in 2007, according to a projection by Clean Edge Inc., a market research firm focused on clean technology. SolarWorld’s fully integrated solar silicon wafer and solar cell production facility will fuel this burgeoning market. The company expects to employ 1,000 people at the Hillsboro facility by 2011 to meet this increasing demand worldwide.

SolarWorld Hillsboro is a 480,000 square foot facility, measuring one-quarter mile end-to-end. Raw silicon is transformed through the manufacturing process into solar cells that are shipped to the SolarWorld Camarillo plant where they are processed into solar panels. SolarWorld acquired the Hillsboro factory, which belonged to Japan’s Komatsu Group, in March 2007 for $40 million and is investing more than $500 million in the new facility. The Hillsboro plant today becomes home to SolarWorld Industries America headquarters.

“SolarWorld Hillsboro illustrates how we move the needle on delivering solar energy, and on a global economy that is fueled by green jobs,” said Boris Klebensberger, Chief Operations Officer. “The Pacific Northwest possesses a hotbed of talent in both silicon manufacturing and clean-technologies. Oregon is the obvious choice for where to undertake this new level of solar cell manufacturing.”

-snip-

[geckosfeet]

24. Evergreen Solar can bite me. They have always been a sweat shop with exploitive labor practices.

I would expect no less from the people who ran Polaroid into the ground.

[midnight armadillo]

29. Do tell

Ex-Polaroid executives are involved at Evergreen? I recall there being a big to-do when they announced a factory would be built in MA.

[geckosfeet]

30. I don't know that I would call them executives. Ex-employees. A number of the

senior executive and engineering staff were employed at Polaroid. They made a habit of hiring people from Polaroid as they were laid off.

They used to have a 12 hour production shift for people who were on their feet working over hot (molten) Si manufacturing ribbon. The AC was inadequate and safety practices were almost non-existent. Si dust everywhere. Employee turnover in this area was tremendous.

This was several years ago. Perhaps a few OSHA fines have helped to improve things but I remain skeptical.

on edit: added bit about turnover