Those green jobs

From the Poughkeepsie Journal (NY State):

Solar cell maker SpectraWatt plans shutdown
In a stunning reversal, the frequently lauded and taxpayer-funded SpectraWatt Inc. has told the state it will close its solar cell plant starting in March and lay off 117 workers.

The announcement was startling because in the past two months, the company, which had been promised about $8 million in tax dollars, planned to train more workers and changed its work shifts to enable a 24-hour operation.

In a news release, the company said it hopes to reverse the situation that led to the decision, but SpectraWatt officials did not respond to requests for details.

Created with nearly $100 million in private and public investments and announced in April 2009, SpectraWatt ramped up quickly, creating jobs in the midst of high unemployment. It began production by March this year and became one of the brightest new lights in the Hudson Valley economy. Now it has blinked, and may well go out.

"You could have knocked me over," said John MacEnroe, president of the Dutchess County Economic Development Corp., which less than seven weeks ago hailed the company with a Business Excellence Award.

Charles North, president of the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce, said, "I'm certainly disappointed, and, actually, I'm shocked."

SpectraWatt was offered about $8 million in government subsidies to help get it started, along with at least $91.4 million in private investor support from Intel Capital and others. It could not be determined Tuesday how much of the public subsidy has been given so far to SpectraWatt and what liabilities, if any, were attached to the money. State officials and elected representatives could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.

The company said, "This action is undertaken in response to deteriorating market conditions resulting from a harsher-than-usual European winter causing a large drop-off in demand for solar cells.

Of course when you start digging, you will find that one of the primary investors was Cogentrix Energy, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Goldman Sachs Group. Can you say scam and write-off? I knew you could...