Frederick Post
Even as the use of solar energy to power homes, offices and other buildings increases, the cost of making panels and other equipment is still high in the U.S.
It was that cost that led to the shutdown of manufacturing at BP Solar in Frederick on Friday and the layoffs of 320 employees.
The site, opened in 1981, had once employed more than 500, turning silicon into wafers and then assembling them into solar panels.
The global market has taken its toll, said Reyad Fezzani, BP Solar CEO. The company is moving production to other countries.
"There is a demand for the product all over the world," Fezzani said Friday in a telephone interview from the company's headquarters in California. "We will do that at lower-cost locations, through a range of third-party manufacturers. We have a joint partnership with some in India and China."
The CEO said the decision to end production at the Frederick site, known for a roof filled with solar panels that is visible from I-70, was "very difficult for us. We deeply regret what the decision will have on Frederick employees."
The plant's manufacturing equipment will be sold or decommissioned, Fezzani said.
About 110 employees will remain at the building on Solarex Court, working in sales, marketing, business support, and research and development.
State and federal leaders tried to help BP Solar, but it wasn't enough to overcome market conditions.
Maryland's congressional delegation worked to secure about $11 million in federal stimulus tax credits for BP Solar last year.
But even that was not enough, since the plan was for BP to invest about $22 million as part of the stimulus deal, said Delegate Sue Hecht, a Frederick Democrat who had advocated for the deal.
"What they said last night was when they relooked (at) it, the market had changed so drastically that they just couldn't make it work," Hecht said.
The company will no longer be receiving those credits.
Gov. Martin O'Malley directed state rapid response teams to immediately begin reaching out to laid-off workers.
"While Maryland's unemployment rate remains below the national average, today's announcement is a reminder for all of us that families in our state are not immune from the global economic downturn," O'Malley said.
Employees in Frederick will be given three months' pay and benefits, as well as severance and outplacement benefits.
"Our main concern is for the 320 employees and the city and county's Workforce Services stand ready to help in re-employment," said Richard Griffin, director of the city's Department of Economic Development. "BP Solar has been a long-standing employer in the city, the facility has been a source of pride for the community. I'm hopeful we can retain the R&D center and have a presence in the community."
Laurie Holden, director of Workforce Services, said her staff was prepared, even if a BP Solar employee walked in the door on Friday.
"We have set up six days over the next three weeks to meet with them letting them know how to file for unemployment and our re-employment services," Holden said.
This is the second-largest layoff her office has handled. The biggest was the closure of Alcoa Eastalco Works with more than 600 unemployed workers. Holden said she has already spoken with officials at the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation on potential funding to add temporary personnel to help handle displaced workers.
Bernie Kohn, spokesman for the department, said its Rapid Response Team would be in Frederick for the next three weeks helping BP Solar employees who lost their jobs.
Laurie Boyer, director of the county's Office of Economic Development, said her main concern is also the displaced workers. But she said she understands the economic pressures faced by a global company.
"BP Solar is competing with companies with costs (that are) a lot lower," Boyer said. "I know it was a difficult decision for BP Solar, but I hope it makes the company stronger to compete in the global market. As the market grows, that could mean the company's R&D will grow."
Fezzani said the cost of production is a global issue, not just local, and complimented the city, county and state for their support of BP Solar over the years.
"We shut down plants in Australia and Spain," Fezzani said.
The company's goal is to see more solar energy systems deployed, he said, but to do that the cost has to come down for the consumer. He said the company envisions a 50 percent increase in growth this year, but that is through production at lower cost.
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?storyid=102978
Top of blog:http://www.usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com/
Saturday, March 27, 2010
BP closing Maryland solar manufacturing plant
BP will close its solar-panel manufacturing plant in Frederick, the final step in moving its solar business out of the United States to facilities in China, India and other countries.
Just 3 1/2 years ago, in an announcement widely hailed by Maryland officials and promoters of "green jobs," BP unveiled a $70 million plan to double output at the facility and erected a building to house the production lines.
But on Friday the company said it would lay off 320 workers and keep only a hundred people involved in research, sales and project development. BP said laid-off employees would receive full pay and benefits for three months, followed by severance packages and job-placement assistance. The company, unable to sell or lease the building, will tear it down.
"We remain absolutely committed to solar," BP chief executive Tony Hayward said in an interview Friday. But he said BP was "moving to where we can manufacture cheaply."
The company said in a news release that by closing down high-cost manufacturing locations, BP slashed unit costs by more than 45 percent.
A few years ago, under the leadership of then-chief executive John Browne, BP said that its initials should stand for "beyond petroleum" and that the solar business was a key part of that new image even though it remained a tiny part of the oil and gas giant. Hayward, who came up through the oil-and-gas-exploration side of the company, said BP remains committed to renewable energy where it makes economic sense.
"The bit about 'beyond petroleum' being dead and buried is nonsense," he said. But, he added, "it's a business as opposed to an advertising slogan." He said that "we believe there are real business opportunities" and that BP would "be pursuing them in a far more business-like way than we did when everyone thought we were 'beyond petroleum.' "
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BP, which has been in the solar business for 37 years, acquired a half-interest in the Frederick plant when it bought Amoco Corp. in 1999; it bought the rest from Enron. At one point, BP was the world's second-largest solar company. Today, it ranks in the top 15, though it hopes to grow.
Intense competition and high silicon prices made the solar sector "a very challenging business," Hayward said. Reyad Fezzani, chief executive of BP Solar, said that the U.S. market, which grew 87 percent in 2008, was almost flat in 2009, with prices for solar modules tumbling about 50 percent.
BP also has made missteps. It was producing 125 millimeter multi-crystalline solar cells in Frederick while the rest of the industry had moved to 156 millimeter cells, which have become standard. Changing the production lines would be too expensive, Fezzani said.
Elsewhere in the United States, BP built and then closed two plants using technologies that the company said had showed early promise. "They were very experimental. And those factories weren't successful in making commercial products," Fezzani said.
Anticipating renewed growth in the U.S. market, other companies -- including Yingli Solar of China, Schott Solar of Germany and Kyocera Solar of Japan -- are planning to open facilities in the United States.
But BP plans to rely on a 25-year-old joint venture with Tata in Bangalore, India, and on an eight-year-old joint venture in Xian, China, with a Chinese firm called SunOasis. BP buys silicon from a variety of suppliers and uses contract factories in which it holds no interest. BP Solar said in January that Jabil Circuit would build a module assembly plant in Chihuahua, Mexico, to serve the U.S. market.
BP has applied to the Energy Department to help finance a proposed 32 megawatt solar-power generation plant on Long Island, N.Y., on land belonging to the Energy Department's Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Sensitive to questions about whether U.S. tax dollars would be helping foreign manufacturers, Fezzani said that "70 percent of our jobs are outside the factory," in design, construction, installation and maintenance. He said BP recently certified 150 installers, "all small businesses."
In 2006, a worker interviewed while monitoring the furnaces used to melt silicon at the Federick plant said, "I could retire here." That won't happen now.
"A few years ago conditions were different," Fezzani said. "The margins were healthier. There was a shortage in the market. But since then, the market has changed. We just couldn't make the economics of this factory work."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/26/AR2010032604611.html?wprss=rss_business
Top of blog:http://www.usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com/
Just 3 1/2 years ago, in an announcement widely hailed by Maryland officials and promoters of "green jobs," BP unveiled a $70 million plan to double output at the facility and erected a building to house the production lines.
But on Friday the company said it would lay off 320 workers and keep only a hundred people involved in research, sales and project development. BP said laid-off employees would receive full pay and benefits for three months, followed by severance packages and job-placement assistance. The company, unable to sell or lease the building, will tear it down.
"We remain absolutely committed to solar," BP chief executive Tony Hayward said in an interview Friday. But he said BP was "moving to where we can manufacture cheaply."
The company said in a news release that by closing down high-cost manufacturing locations, BP slashed unit costs by more than 45 percent.
A few years ago, under the leadership of then-chief executive John Browne, BP said that its initials should stand for "beyond petroleum" and that the solar business was a key part of that new image even though it remained a tiny part of the oil and gas giant. Hayward, who came up through the oil-and-gas-exploration side of the company, said BP remains committed to renewable energy where it makes economic sense.
"The bit about 'beyond petroleum' being dead and buried is nonsense," he said. But, he added, "it's a business as opposed to an advertising slogan." He said that "we believe there are real business opportunities" and that BP would "be pursuing them in a far more business-like way than we did when everyone thought we were 'beyond petroleum.' "
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BP, which has been in the solar business for 37 years, acquired a half-interest in the Frederick plant when it bought Amoco Corp. in 1999; it bought the rest from Enron. At one point, BP was the world's second-largest solar company. Today, it ranks in the top 15, though it hopes to grow.
Intense competition and high silicon prices made the solar sector "a very challenging business," Hayward said. Reyad Fezzani, chief executive of BP Solar, said that the U.S. market, which grew 87 percent in 2008, was almost flat in 2009, with prices for solar modules tumbling about 50 percent.
BP also has made missteps. It was producing 125 millimeter multi-crystalline solar cells in Frederick while the rest of the industry had moved to 156 millimeter cells, which have become standard. Changing the production lines would be too expensive, Fezzani said.
Elsewhere in the United States, BP built and then closed two plants using technologies that the company said had showed early promise. "They were very experimental. And those factories weren't successful in making commercial products," Fezzani said.
Anticipating renewed growth in the U.S. market, other companies -- including Yingli Solar of China, Schott Solar of Germany and Kyocera Solar of Japan -- are planning to open facilities in the United States.
But BP plans to rely on a 25-year-old joint venture with Tata in Bangalore, India, and on an eight-year-old joint venture in Xian, China, with a Chinese firm called SunOasis. BP buys silicon from a variety of suppliers and uses contract factories in which it holds no interest. BP Solar said in January that Jabil Circuit would build a module assembly plant in Chihuahua, Mexico, to serve the U.S. market.
BP has applied to the Energy Department to help finance a proposed 32 megawatt solar-power generation plant on Long Island, N.Y., on land belonging to the Energy Department's Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Sensitive to questions about whether U.S. tax dollars would be helping foreign manufacturers, Fezzani said that "70 percent of our jobs are outside the factory," in design, construction, installation and maintenance. He said BP recently certified 150 installers, "all small businesses."
In 2006, a worker interviewed while monitoring the furnaces used to melt silicon at the Federick plant said, "I could retire here." That won't happen now.
"A few years ago conditions were different," Fezzani said. "The margins were healthier. There was a shortage in the market. But since then, the market has changed. We just couldn't make the economics of this factory work."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/26/AR2010032604611.html?wprss=rss_business
Top of blog:http://www.usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com/
BP Solar ends Md. manufacturing, cutting 320 jobs
HAGERSTOWN, Md. – BP Solar said Friday it is closing its landmark Frederick manufacturing plant as part of a reshaping of the U.S. solar industry in a cost-cutting move that will eliminate 320 jobs.
The company, a San Francisco-based unit of London-based BP PLC, said the sharply falling price of solar-power modules prompted it to shift its remaining in-house production to lower-cost joint ventures in China and India and contract with other manufacturers for the rest.
About 110 jobs in sales, marketing, research and project development will remain in Frederick, housed for now in the prominent slant-roofed building along Interstate 270 about 40 miles from Washington, spokesman Pete Resler said.
The company said solar panel prices have fallen nearly 50 percent in the past 18 months. The price drop has driven the consumer cost of solar power closer to that of electricity generated from fossil fuels, said Chief Executive Officer Reyad Fezzani.
He said that with global demand for solar power expected to boom in coming years, "we are scaling up our supply chain to serve this rapid growth here in the US, in the European and Asian markets."
In 2009, BP Solar announced its global sales rose more than 26 percent. The company said it expects sales growth exceeding 50 percent in 2010.
BP Solar said it is increasingly focused on developing utility-sized projects. Fezzani said about 70 percent of solar industry jobs are in design, installation and maintenance. As a major project developer, BP Solar will help create hundreds of these new jobs, he said.
Still, the company's announcement was "a big hit" to Frederick's economy, said state Sen. David Brinkley, R-Frederick.
"They're obviously going to be making the solar cells somewhere, but they're choosing physically to relocate and not be here, and that's indicative of, I guess, the environment — the business environment and the economy," Brinkley said.
Solar-cell manufacturing in Frederick dates to the mid-1970s, when Hungarian expatriates Joseph Lindmayer and Peter Varadi established Solarex. The company, housed in the plant topped by a huge, slanted, solar-panel array, became the nation's largest U.S.-owned solar cell producer by 1994, when then-owner Amoco Corp. sold a 50 percent share to Enron Corp.
BP acquired Amoco in 1998 and bought Enron's share a year later.
___
Associated Press writer Brian Witte contributed to this story from Annapolis.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100326/ap_on_bi_ge/us_bp_solar_layoffs_2
The company, a San Francisco-based unit of London-based BP PLC, said the sharply falling price of solar-power modules prompted it to shift its remaining in-house production to lower-cost joint ventures in China and India and contract with other manufacturers for the rest.
About 110 jobs in sales, marketing, research and project development will remain in Frederick, housed for now in the prominent slant-roofed building along Interstate 270 about 40 miles from Washington, spokesman Pete Resler said.
The company said solar panel prices have fallen nearly 50 percent in the past 18 months. The price drop has driven the consumer cost of solar power closer to that of electricity generated from fossil fuels, said Chief Executive Officer Reyad Fezzani.
He said that with global demand for solar power expected to boom in coming years, "we are scaling up our supply chain to serve this rapid growth here in the US, in the European and Asian markets."
In 2009, BP Solar announced its global sales rose more than 26 percent. The company said it expects sales growth exceeding 50 percent in 2010.
BP Solar said it is increasingly focused on developing utility-sized projects. Fezzani said about 70 percent of solar industry jobs are in design, installation and maintenance. As a major project developer, BP Solar will help create hundreds of these new jobs, he said.
Still, the company's announcement was "a big hit" to Frederick's economy, said state Sen. David Brinkley, R-Frederick.
"They're obviously going to be making the solar cells somewhere, but they're choosing physically to relocate and not be here, and that's indicative of, I guess, the environment — the business environment and the economy," Brinkley said.
Solar-cell manufacturing in Frederick dates to the mid-1970s, when Hungarian expatriates Joseph Lindmayer and Peter Varadi established Solarex. The company, housed in the plant topped by a huge, slanted, solar-panel array, became the nation's largest U.S.-owned solar cell producer by 1994, when then-owner Amoco Corp. sold a 50 percent share to Enron Corp.
BP acquired Amoco in 1998 and bought Enron's share a year later.
___
Associated Press writer Brian Witte contributed to this story from Annapolis.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100326/ap_on_bi_ge/us_bp_solar_layoffs_2
Solar Millenium
Solar Millenium
Link to: http://www.wallstreet-online.de/diskussion/1073576-5171-5180/solar-millenium-diskussionsforum
Link to top of blog: http://www.usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com/
Link to: http://www.wallstreet-online.de/diskussion/1073576-5171-5180/solar-millenium-diskussionsforum
Link to top of blog: http://www.usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com/
Space Pictures Without Using Rocket Fuel
Friday, March 26, 2010
We are looking for more song for playlist
We are looking for more song for playlist. The songs should be energy, earth, or environment related. Please send us suggestions. Thanks.
Link to top of blog: http://www.usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com/
Link to top of blog: http://www.usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com/
Department of Energy - Small Business
Department of Energy - Small Businesses Helping Drive Economy: Clean Energy, Clean Sites
http://www.energy.gov/recovery/documents/Small_Business_Memo_Mar2010.pdf
http://www.usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com/
http://www.energy.gov/recovery/documents/Small_Business_Memo_Mar2010.pdf
http://www.usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Earth Day 2010
Earth Day 2010 Coming In April 22 nd
Forty years after the first Earth Day, the world is in greater peril than ever. While climate change is the greatest challenge of our time, it also presents the greatest opportunity – an unprecedented opportunity to build a healthy, prosperous, clean energy economy now and for the future.
Earth Day 2010 can be a turning point to advance climate policy, energy efficiency, renewable energy and green jobs. Earth Day Network is galvanizing millions who make personal commitments to sustainability. Earth Day 2010 is a pivotal opportunity for individuals, corporations and governments to join together and create a global green economy. Join the more than one billion people in 190 countries that are taking action for Earth Day.
Start planning your Earth Day 2010 event and take action today.
Tools to Get Started
Organizers GuideEarth Day In A Box
Earth Day Network’s Campaign for Earth Day 2010
Global Days of Service – April 17-18 - Join millions around the globe to make your community and the world cleaner and more sustainable.
Help Generate a Billion Acts of Green™ - Register individual, community or business service acts and take action for Earth Day.
Events on The National Mall in Washington, DC
Earth Day 40th Anniversary Events – April 22
Change the Climate Rally – April 25
Exhibitions and Performances on The National Mall – April 17-25
Arts for the Earth™ - Get involved in art that promotes environmental themes.
Song for the Earth Contest - Youths 18 or under who are passionate about music and the environment are invited to compose and submit a song. Winners will perform on The National Mall.
Athletes for the Earth™ - Athletes are signing up to change the climate!
40th Anniversary Global Advisory Committee - See who is part of the team!» -->
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It Takes A Village (of scientists) To Reinvent Energy
It Takes A Village (of scientists) To Reinvent Energy
National Harbor, Md.--Attending the ARPA-E Summit this week was sort of like roaming the halls of clean-tech high school, one investor quipped when I asked him what he thought of the conference. It's an analogy that holds up pretty well.
There were the popular "kids" that everybody wanted talk to--high-profile green-tech investors like John Doerr of Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers and Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures. Authority figures who set the rules were out in force as well, including Energy Secretary Steven Chu, multiple senators, and other high-level Department of Energy officials.
Looking for a clean-energy home run (photos)
And then there were the nerds, the folks who loved taking science classes and building things back when they actually were in high school. These are the types of people who use a vocabulary most of us can barely follow--chemical compounds or industrial processes that you never heard of--because they have deep expertise in a particular field.
As usual, the politicians and money people got lots of attention. But in my mind it's really the class geeks who should be the rock stars at an energy innovation conference.
ARPA-E, which stands for Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, was funded for the first time last year with a $400 million budget to award grants to companies and researching pursuing breakthrough clean-energy technologies. On Tuesday, Secretary Chu said that agency is structured around specific technology goals that have a chance at being developed within a few years.
For example, ARPA-E this week announced its grant solicitations for grid storage to complement wind and solar power, for energy-efficient air conditioning, and for efficient power electronics for wind turbines or LED lighting. The agency has already awarded $151 million to researchers developing methods for storing carbon dioxide underground and improving electric vehicle energy storage.
Although it's still young, the agency has gotten off to a good start, according to outsiders and the politicians, such as Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), who were instrumental in getting it funding. Outsiders, such as Doerr and Google director of energy and climate initiatives Dan Reicher, said that the DOE has assembled a top-notch team to vet applications.
Competition for the research money is tight: DOE officials said about three-quarters of the grant applications have been rejected. What's in the running right now? Everything from a Velkess flywheel energy storage system to an Algaeventure Systems plan for extracting algae from water. Entrepreneurs are also pursuing nuclear fusion and the conversion of carbon dioxide and methane gas into a low-carbon liquid fuel.
This photo gallery gives example of the technologies still being evaluated for ARPA-E funding. Making it through the selection process in some way pays twice: a number of companies that have already received research funding were also able to raise money from venture capitalists.
It's pretty much guaranteed that many of these efforts will fail, but that's OK if there are a few technology "home runs" that come out of ARPA-E, say DOE officials and investors. After that, though, there's perhaps a bigger challenge: getting great clean-energy technologies to scale.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10463851-54.html?tag=mncol;posts
Top of blog: http://www.usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com/
National Harbor, Md.--Attending the ARPA-E Summit this week was sort of like roaming the halls of clean-tech high school, one investor quipped when I asked him what he thought of the conference. It's an analogy that holds up pretty well.
There were the popular "kids" that everybody wanted talk to--high-profile green-tech investors like John Doerr of Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers and Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures. Authority figures who set the rules were out in force as well, including Energy Secretary Steven Chu, multiple senators, and other high-level Department of Energy officials.
Looking for a clean-energy home run (photos)
And then there were the nerds, the folks who loved taking science classes and building things back when they actually were in high school. These are the types of people who use a vocabulary most of us can barely follow--chemical compounds or industrial processes that you never heard of--because they have deep expertise in a particular field.
As usual, the politicians and money people got lots of attention. But in my mind it's really the class geeks who should be the rock stars at an energy innovation conference.
ARPA-E, which stands for Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, was funded for the first time last year with a $400 million budget to award grants to companies and researching pursuing breakthrough clean-energy technologies. On Tuesday, Secretary Chu said that agency is structured around specific technology goals that have a chance at being developed within a few years.
For example, ARPA-E this week announced its grant solicitations for grid storage to complement wind and solar power, for energy-efficient air conditioning, and for efficient power electronics for wind turbines or LED lighting. The agency has already awarded $151 million to researchers developing methods for storing carbon dioxide underground and improving electric vehicle energy storage.
Although it's still young, the agency has gotten off to a good start, according to outsiders and the politicians, such as Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), who were instrumental in getting it funding. Outsiders, such as Doerr and Google director of energy and climate initiatives Dan Reicher, said that the DOE has assembled a top-notch team to vet applications.
Competition for the research money is tight: DOE officials said about three-quarters of the grant applications have been rejected. What's in the running right now? Everything from a Velkess flywheel energy storage system to an Algaeventure Systems plan for extracting algae from water. Entrepreneurs are also pursuing nuclear fusion and the conversion of carbon dioxide and methane gas into a low-carbon liquid fuel.
This photo gallery gives example of the technologies still being evaluated for ARPA-E funding. Making it through the selection process in some way pays twice: a number of companies that have already received research funding were also able to raise money from venture capitalists.
It's pretty much guaranteed that many of these efforts will fail, but that's OK if there are a few technology "home runs" that come out of ARPA-E, say DOE officials and investors. After that, though, there's perhaps a bigger challenge: getting great clean-energy technologies to scale.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10463851-54.html?tag=mncol;posts
Top of blog: http://www.usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com/
Three Electric Car Employees Die - Sad News for Alternative Fuels Industry
Tesla Motors Employees Die In Plane Crash
UPDATE (February 18): The three Tesla Motors employees killed yesterday in the crash of a small airplane at the Palo Alto Airport have now been identified, according to local news reports.
They were: Doug Bourn, a senior electric engineer and the presumed pilot of the plane; Andrew Ingram, an electrical engineer; and Brian M. Finn, a senior manager of interactive electronics.
The company has not yet confirmed the three men's identities, and at noon, the San Mateo County Corner's office plans to hold a press conference to release the information officially.
[San Jose Mercury via Wired]
++++++++++++++++++++++
(February 17, 2010) “We lost 3 employees in a plane crash today. We're a small company and this is a tragic day. Our thoughts go out to their families.” - Elon
With those words, attributed to CEO Elon Musk on Tesla Motors' Twitter account an hour ago, the company acknowledged news that erupted onto Bay Area outlets this morning and spread globally via Twitter and other media.
Just before 8 am Pacific this morning, a twin-engine Cessna with three passengers apparently clipped electrical distribution lines while taking off in a thick fog from the Palo Alto Airport, on the shores of San Francisco Bay.
Pieces of the airplane crashed into buildings and cars in East Palo Alto, and power in Palo Alto and the adjacent Stanford Hospital was lost. Remarkably, there were no injuries on the ground.
The three passengers in the plane, among them a Tesla Motors executive, were killed.
All three passengers worked at Tesla, the pioneering startup electric-car maker whose Tesla Roadster was the first highway capable electric vehicle sold in the U.S. in many years. The company is now developing its next model, the Model S four-door luxury sports sedan.
At this point, the identities of the passengers have not been released. Sources confirm that Musk, vice president of business development Diarmuid O'Connell, and vice president of communications Ricardo Reyes are not among them.
Power remains out in Palo Alto, affecting the hub of Silicon Valley. The headquarters of High Gear Media, publishers of AllCarsElectric.com, is also dark.
We'll update this story as we get more details. Our thoughts go out to the families of the dead, and to all the employees and friends of pioneering electric-car maker Tesla Motors.
http://www.allcarselectric.com/blog/1042701_breaking-tesla-employees-killed-in-plane-crash-identified
UPDATE (February 18): The three Tesla Motors employees killed yesterday in the crash of a small airplane at the Palo Alto Airport have now been identified, according to local news reports.
They were: Doug Bourn, a senior electric engineer and the presumed pilot of the plane; Andrew Ingram, an electrical engineer; and Brian M. Finn, a senior manager of interactive electronics.
The company has not yet confirmed the three men's identities, and at noon, the San Mateo County Corner's office plans to hold a press conference to release the information officially.
[San Jose Mercury via Wired]
++++++++++++++++++++++
(February 17, 2010) “We lost 3 employees in a plane crash today. We're a small company and this is a tragic day. Our thoughts go out to their families.” - Elon
With those words, attributed to CEO Elon Musk on Tesla Motors' Twitter account an hour ago, the company acknowledged news that erupted onto Bay Area outlets this morning and spread globally via Twitter and other media.
Just before 8 am Pacific this morning, a twin-engine Cessna with three passengers apparently clipped electrical distribution lines while taking off in a thick fog from the Palo Alto Airport, on the shores of San Francisco Bay.
Pieces of the airplane crashed into buildings and cars in East Palo Alto, and power in Palo Alto and the adjacent Stanford Hospital was lost. Remarkably, there were no injuries on the ground.
The three passengers in the plane, among them a Tesla Motors executive, were killed.
All three passengers worked at Tesla, the pioneering startup electric-car maker whose Tesla Roadster was the first highway capable electric vehicle sold in the U.S. in many years. The company is now developing its next model, the Model S four-door luxury sports sedan.
At this point, the identities of the passengers have not been released. Sources confirm that Musk, vice president of business development Diarmuid O'Connell, and vice president of communications Ricardo Reyes are not among them.
Power remains out in Palo Alto, affecting the hub of Silicon Valley. The headquarters of High Gear Media, publishers of AllCarsElectric.com, is also dark.
We'll update this story as we get more details. Our thoughts go out to the families of the dead, and to all the employees and friends of pioneering electric-car maker Tesla Motors.
http://www.allcarselectric.com/blog/1042701_breaking-tesla-employees-killed-in-plane-crash-identified
Link to top of blog: http://www.usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com
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