Dreams that solar manufacturing might take root in San Diego have faded as French solar company Soitec shuttered its Rancho Bernardo assembly line and seeks to sell off related assets, including permits for two local solar farms that never came to fruition.
Soitec’s concentrated solar technology, which differs from the common silicon panels seen on residential rooftops and big solar farms, showed such promising advances in efficiency during laboratory tests that its solar factory in San Diego was underwritten by a $25 million grant from the Department of Energy.
The City of San Diego helped ensure enterprise-zone tax breaks and fast-track permit approvals in the interest of creating hundreds of new jobs.
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