According to an article in the business section of my newspaper written by George Avalos of the Bay Area News Group, Solar Millennium, which had its U.S. headquarters in Oakland, CA, filed for insolvency in a German court, the company said yesterday.
In May, Solar Millennium was awarded a $2.1 billion loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy. The money would have been used to help fund the company's construction of a solar power plant using "solar trough technology" in Blythe, CA. But on August 18, Solar Millennium abandoned its plans for the cutting-edge technology and shifted to conventional solar photovoltaic system. That change scuttled the loan guarantee and things went downhill from there. Since August the company has attempted to find a buyer for its power projects, but a deal with Solarhybrid fell through and there appeared to be no hope of finding anyone in Europe to bail them out, leading to the bankruptcy filing.