Colorado solar plant may be affected by closure of panel factory

Posted:   07/20/2012 01:00:00 AM MDT

By Mark Jaffe

The Denver Post

A solar plant in Alamosa built by Cogentrix LLC is up and providing electricity to Xcel Energy — but the closure of the factory producing the plant's solar panels has raised questions about its future.

The 30-megwatt plant, estimated to cost between $140 million and $150 million, received a $90.6 million federal loan guarantee from the Department of Energy.

Cogentrix is owned by Goldman Sachs, the New York-based investment bank.

Amonix, the maker of the concentrating photovoltaic panels used at the Cogentrix plant, announced Thursday it closed its 150-megawatt Nevada factory as part of restructuring to "parallel changing market conditions." It still has a 5 -megawatt factory in Hatch, N.M.

Lower demand for the high-tech solar panels, which use lenses to concentrate the sun's rays and boost panel output, led to the closure, Amonix said.

To read the entire article go to: http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_21115641/colorado-solar-plant-may-be-affected-by-closure

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