Bosch Finds Solar Business Unprofitable, Exits

New submitter rwise2112 writes "German engineering company Bosch said Friday that it is abandoning its solar energy business, because there is no way to make it economically viable.'We have considered the latest technological advances, cost-reduction potential and strategic alignment, and there have also been talks with potential partners,' Bosch CEO Volkmar Denner said. 'However, none of these possibilities resulted in a solution for the solar energy division that would be economically viable over the long term.'"

Comments

Re:FINANCIALLY viable

[schneidafunk]

In TFA: "European makers of solar energy have accused low cost Asian competitors, especially manufacturers from China, of creating the trouble for their western peers, partly by flooding the market with products at prices far below production costs."

Unprofitable

[schneidafunk]

The reason it is unprofitable is because China is flooding the market with panels that cost less than the production cost. If China was punished for its behavior, these companies would be able to compete and stay in business.

"European makers of solar energy have accused low cost Asian competitors, especially manufacturers from China, of creating the trouble for their western peers, partly by flooding the market with products at prices far below production costs."

Re:Unprofitable

[jandrese]

People have been doing that, and causing some of the Chinese producers to bankrupt themselves already, even with all of the government subsidies and kickbacks.

Re:FINANCIALLY viable

[M0j0_j0j0]

It's called dumping and it is working, Chinese dumping was the main reason EU and US removed the benefits.

Re:I love working with PV cells

[Jeremi]

But I'm also aware without government subsidies, it's not economically viable. On the large scale.

Yet. The point at which solar energy becomes cheaper than the competition is called 'grid parity', and it's already happened in some countries. Over the next few years we'll see it happen in more and more places.

Re:I love working with PV cells

[blue trane]

China's government subsidizes their solar companies to a much greater degree than the US does; that's why Solyndra couldn't compete.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2012/0320/China-subsidized-solar-panels-US-finds.-Are-tariffs-the-right-response

the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration determined that Chinese manufacturers had apparently dumped "massive" quantities of solar panels into the US market that were sold far more cheaply than US-made panels. According to the finding, the lower price was mainly because the panels were heavily subsidized by dozens of low-cost Chinese government loan programs and other subsidies.

Re:I love working with PV cells

[asm2750]

But I'm also aware without government subsidies,

The problem aren't government subsidies, but simply that companies in China can produce cheaper solar cells then Bosch can. The solar business is full of companies and lots of competition and it's hard to get a lot of money out of that.

Some solar PV companies in China are also exiting the market. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/03/20/174828432/chinese-solar-panel-maker-suntech-goes-bankrupt

Fabrication costs need to go down for makers, and ROI needs to go up for consumers.

Re:Simple physics and the law of diminishing retur

[dgatwood]

When in history has technology jumped 1000% in one discovery?

1945.