

Company makes cheaper solar wafers, wins $150M loan from DOE - kmccarth
http://bostinnovation.com/2011/06/20/mass-solar-co-wins-150m-loan-from-dept-of-energy/

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loire280
Here and Now (NPR) just did a story on how the military is using solar power,
right now, to provide electricity for remote bases and soldiers on the field.
The military's adoption of solar power is providing the scale that solar
companies need to improve manufacturing needs and drive additional R&D.

The initial motivation is that it reduces the stress on their energy (read:
oil) supply chain, but they've found that adopting solar is also cutting down
on the number of batteries each soldier has to carry to power the gadgets that
have become part of modern warfare.

<http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2011/06/06/military-solar-power> (the meat of the
story is actually in the audio, the text is just a brief summary)

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aaronblohowiak
I want to root for companies like this in the way that other people like to
root for sports teams.

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yumraj
Now, I just hope that they too won't move their production base to China after
taking the DOE grant like Evergreen Solar had done after taking the $43million
grant from MA. Link: [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/15/business/energy-
environmen...](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/15/business/energy-
environment/15solar.html)

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icefox
Bit of a flame bate comment.

China's gov wanted to be #1 in solar and their factories were undercutting
Evergreen solar so it was either move the factory or go bankrupt. My uncle
worked at the factory and while he doesn't like it (he lost his job) he agrees
with the reasons.

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socialmediaking
I for one, am in favor of the DOE accelerating innovative companies in
breakout industries.

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barney54
If they are truly breakout industries, do they need taxpayers' money? If they
are promising, where are the VCs?

