U.S. Solar Panel Manufacturing Facility

According to a Reuters article entitled "BP Solar Closes Its Maryland Manufacturing Plant" by Dana Ford, a solar cell plant has been shut down in the United States. The Frederick, Maryland plant was closed on Friday, March 26, 2010. About 320 jobs were eliminated leaving R&D, sales, marketing, and project positions. BP Solar estimates they have approximate one gigawatt of installed solar systems.

The AP had a story on this was well by David Dishneau who mentions the manufacturing facility was created in the 1970s by the company Solarex. It was later owned by Amoco with a 50% stake controlled by Enron. BP Solar acquired both stakes to become sole owner of the plant.

So much for these "green" manufacturing jobs for the United States.

Applied Materials Solar Moves to China

The New York Times has an informative article about "green" jobs being moved or created in China by American companies. See "China Drawing High-Tech Research From U.S." by Keith Bradsher from March 17, 2010.

Of course how so the United States compete when companies can find engineers with master's degrees for about $700 a month. The company highlighted in the story is Applied Materials, maker of the equipment that produces computer displays, semiconductors and solar panels.

After reading some of the comments on the New York Times website, I was surprised by some the well thought out posts. The one post made an interesting observation about the focus of where American public, "it's technology that makes or breaks a nation not financial gimmicks..."

The United States better start changing course!