AltEnToday

In perhaps one of the bleaker stories I’ve read on the solar industry in recent months, Hayward, CA-based OptiSolar has announced that it will layoff 290 workers, according to a report on SFGate. This comes even as the Obama administration has come in to the executive office with promises for new spending and investment in solar and renewable industries.

So what ailed OptiSolar? Its strong contracts and deals with California’s PG&E utility appear sound, but future growth opportunities are apparently stunted by frustrations in the credit markets.

This situation, unfortunately, is indicative of the times that we are all living in right now. This is the perfect time for investments in to renewable, scaled utility-grade systems like solar since the economy is not booming… Older plants using older technologies like coal and natural gas will be slowly coming off-line as they reach their life-span peaks, and distributed, scalable systems like utility-grade solar ought to be able to fill the void during this downturned economy (when proposing a full, 500+ megawatt facility might be cost prohibitive).

My hope is that this is just a minor setback for companies like OptiSolar and others in the utility-grade field, since that is truly where the solar industry will be able to compete in the long run. Rooftop solar in residential and commercial applications is vitally important, but utility installations will make a much greater impact on the overall power consumption choices that customers receive in the future. My best wishes go to the nearly 300 OptiSolar employees that were laid off during this cutback, and I hope we can all find successful positions in the coming weeks and months ahead.