Konarka Technologies Inc. filed for bankruptcy late last week, releasing a statement saying that it had been: "unable to obtain additional financing, and given its financial condition, it is unable to continue operations."
Lux Research today dismissed suggestions that the failure to raise capital was the companys problem, countering: "However raising funding, more than solar module development, was where the company excelled."
In terms of the Massachusetts-based companys technology, Lux were equally scathing. "Konarkas modules could not compete in the market on cost, efficiency, or lifetime," wrote Lux. The statement continued: "With ten times higher cost, and ten times lower efficiency and lifetime compared to alternative solar technologies, the math never added up for Konarkas "Power Plastic"."
The Republican Presidential campaign has been criticized on the back of Konarkas failure. President Obamas campaign was quick to point out that Republican Nominee Mitt Romney had supported Konarka with a US$1.5 million state loan, while he was Massachusetts Governor. Only days before Konarka announced bankruptcy, Romney had once again attacked the Obama administrations support of failed CIGS manufacturer Solyndra.
While the US$1.5 million Konarka loan pales in comparison to the US$535 million federal loan Solyndra received, the Obama campaign was quick to point out, what it descried as, another example of Romney hypocrisy.
The Boston Globe has reported that Konarka was supported with US$24 million in loans from the Massachusetts renewable energy trust, back in 2003.
Popular content
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
Share
Jonathan Gifford
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.