"Solar Industry Learns Lessons in Spanish Sun"

"PUERTOLLANO, Spain — Two years ago, this gritty mining city hosted a brief 21st-century gold rush. Long famous for coal, Puertollano discovered another energy source it had overlooked: the relentless, scorching sun. ... Half the solar power installed globally in 2008 was installed in Spain.

But as low-quality, poorly designed solar plants sprang up on Spain’s plateaus, Spanish officials came to realize that they would have to subsidize many of them indefinitely, and that the industry they had created might never produce efficient green energy on its own.

In September the government abruptly changed course, cutting payments and capping solar construction. Puertollano’s brief boom turned bust. Factories and stores shut, thousands of workers lost jobs, foreign companies and banks abandoned contracts that had already been negotiated."

Elisabeth Rosenthal reports for the New York Times March 8, 2010.

See Also:

"Wind Industry Blitzes Hill on Schumer Bill, Renewable Mandate" (Greenwire)