Fraud: MI solar company gets $42 million to manufacture solar panels in India, creates only 17 jobs

from theblogprof by The blogprof


Fraud: MI solar company gets $42 million to manufacture solar panels in India, creates only 17 jobs: "Seventeen jobs. SEVENTEEN! That's all we have to show for Granholm throwing $42 million for GlobalWatt to move to Michigan. For background, here's a report from September by Kathy Hoekstra of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy:

The Center's Kathy Hoekstra and Mike LaFaive discovered claims made by GlobalWatt on its application for state tax credits were misleading or simply not true (making false claims on such an application is a felony). Those tax credits were contingent upon GlobalWatt following through on promises of job creation.

Job promises that never materialized: TV5 Investigates: High-Tech Jobs, Help Wanted?

For the past year, you’ve been hearing a lot about solar technology and how it can bring new life to this area traditionally known for making vehicles.

Jobs were promised and hopes were high -- but now that hope is turning into holdups and frustration from the top.

Can this once bright future already be dimming for our region?

Click on this pic for the TV5 video report:

Only 17 people are currently employed by GlobalWatt. Let's see - $42 million divided by 17 people equals out to be about $2.5 million per person, which will pay for itself in about 10,000 years. Maybe. And the panels that they are selling are made in India:

Chris Philbrick is a former consultant with Globalwatt. He says while employed by GlobalWatt, he visited Hindhivac (HHV), a company in India, to build a business relationship. Philbrick says GlobalWatt ordered 12 solar panels from HHV, five of which are the items depicted on eBay.

GlobalWatt admits in an e-mail via eBay, 'These are Made in India. But they are using very high content of US made material. The cells are from Suniva, from Georgia.'

Philbrick explains that these panels may even have GlobalWatt labels on them, 'This is perfectly legal and may be part of the business plan, but there isn't as much money to be made in selling solar panels on behalf of another company.'

And this is going to improve Michigan's economy... how???

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