Evergreen Solar R.I.P.

I saw this small column on the Op Ed page of The Wall Street Journal.  It is something of an obituary for Evergreen Solar.  As the name implies, the company was a manufacturer of solar panels.  As is the Journal's wont, it concentrates on the role of subsidies in driving the company's business plan.  So I checked Bloomberg and found this article about the bankruptcy filing.  This one has a little bit more of substance about the company's operations, but it still relies heavily on the role of subsidies, or their lack, in the demise of the company.  The money quote:

The company, based in Marlboro, Massachusetts, blamed the bankruptcy on increased competition from government-subsidized solar-panel makers in China and the failure of the U.S. to adopt clean-energy policies.

Prices for solar panels fell in 2010 and 2011 because of “massive overcapacity” in the industry at a time of lower subsidies, El-Hillow said in court papers.

 All of Evergreen's woes are related to the subsidies that other firms are receiving, how the subsidies encouraged the development of excess capacity, and how firms become unprofitable when those subsidies are removed.  Now the tax payers of Massachusetts are $58 million smarter.

This demonstrated once again ow fragile a business plan built on government benefits can be.  It is also another cautionary tale of how far the U.S. is from alternative energy sources that are economically viable.