Flare-Out? Mega-solar company slashing jobs despite gov't benefits

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

The solar industry seemed to be looking at a bright future in 2016 as Congress renewed an endangered tax break for another five years. Yet, in a troubling sign for a business continuously infused with such government benefits, America’s largest solar contractor may be facing its worst year on record.

 

SolarCity, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, is now contending with mass layoffs, plummeting stock and mounting debt.

 

“This is what happens when you have a government that artificially props up a sector with subsidies so it can generate more production than they otherwise would,” said energy analyst Nick Loris, a research fellow with the conservative Heritage Foundation.

 

The company’s decision to slash 550 jobs in Nevada was announced in a Jan. 6 press release. The company pointedly blamed the Nevada Public Utilities Commission after it cut the rate at which customers could resell energy back to the grid – warning this would “punish existing customers” and cause all solar companies to “lay off thousands of additional Nevadans.”

 

The reaction to the rate change, for critics, underscored how fragile the industry is.

 

Loris said companies like SolarCity simply depend on these policies. "When taken away, it adversely affects their bottom line and ability to compete with conventional sources,” he said.

 

The company’s stock was trading Thursday around the $34 range, a slight uptick after a near-continuous slide since Dec. 17, when it closed at $57.26. Its heyday was Feb. 27, 2014, when shareholders gleefully saw the ticker reach $86. Analysts are now split over recommendations on whether to sell or buy, amid a time of extreme volatility in the markets as a whole.

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Somebody got paid. It just wasn't the workers...

[kevindavis]

I'm shocked..

[clearvision]

cheap oil does not help the solar/wind companies either...

[kevindavis]

Elon should be more focused on Rockets..

[kevindavis]

cheap oil does not help the solar/wind companies either...

 

I agree, I'm just waiting for the shoe to drop.

[Oceander]

There goes another heapin' helpin' of taxpayer subsidies that will never be recouped.