The West’s Green Nightmare

Italy will move to reduce taxpayer subsidies to its renewable energy sector after last year's boom in solar power, Industry Minister Corrado Passera says. Some estimates contend the feed-in tariffs paid to photovoltaic user/generators will amount to $59 billion over the next 20 years. --UPI, 3 April 2012


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Solar Trust of America LLC, which holds the development rights for the world's largest solar power project, on Monday filed for bankruptcy protection after its majority owner began insolvency proceedings in Germany. --Reuters, 3 April 2012
 The German solar industry is at a turning point. The bankruptcy of Q-Cells this week shows that the days of German solar cell production are numbered. It wasn't so long ago that people viewed Q-Cells as an energy company of the future. At one point, it was the world's largest manufacturer of solar cells. Q-Cells' insolvency comes as a great shock to the Germany's solar industry. It is already the fourth major bankruptcy in a sector in crisis. Ironically, just as the boom was fuelled by government money, those same subsidies have accelerated the bust. The worst hit in the German solar crisis are companies that made bad business decisions. Most of the companies effected failed to wean themselves from reliance on government subsidies. --Stefan Schultz, Spiegel Online, 2 April 2012 I was still in college when the first wave of solar power enthusiasts started selling the world on the vision of cheap, unlimited power from the benign and eco-friendly sun. It was a beautiful idea then and it still is one today. Solar power is still a beautiful dream with just one tiny little catch. The prettiest unicorns have a way of dancing so tantalizingly, just out of reach. --Walter Russell Mead,Via Meadia, 3 April 2012
 THE Department of Climate Change will scrap up to 300 jobs - one-third of its workforce - as the Australian government clamps down on spending in its effort to return the budget to surplus. --Matthew Franklin, The Australian, 4 April 2012

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