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[Richard230]

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.

[Richard230]

First in Europe in December and now in the U.S. in April.  My newspaper reports that Oakland-based Solar Millennium, Solar Trust of America and a group of affiliates, filed for bankruptcy on Monday to reorganize their finances "in another meltdown of a Bay Area solar company".  Solar Millennium is building one of the largest solar projects in the world, a 7,000-acre complex near the town of Blythe in Riverside County.

Solar Millennium and the affiliated companies listed combined debts of up to $500 million and combined assets of no more than $100 million, according to papers filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.

It sure doesn't sound like solar power companies are very good investments.