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Abound Solar was a manufacturer of cadmium telluride modules–a thin-film photovoltaic technology–based in the United States. It owned an abandoned, toxic production facility in Longmont, Colorado.〔http://www.denverpost.com/ci_23621546/bankrupt-abound-solars-toxic-wastes-cleaned-at-4〕 The company was incorporated as AVA Solar in 2007 and was rebranded as Abound Solar in March 2009. In 2010 Abound received a loan guarantee of $400 million from the U.S. government for the next decade.〔http://www.recovery.gov/Transparency/RecoveryData/Pages/Recipient.aspx?duns=829321038〕 In 2012 the company laid off almost half its employees before suspending operations and filing for bankruptcy. ==History== Abound Solar's founders began researching thin-film deposition since the late 1980s. In 1991, W.S. Sampath, a professor at Colorado State University, patented a process for low-cost metal deposition within a vacuum. Al Enzenroth, Kurt Barth, Professor Sampath settled upon cadmium telluride (CdTe) as the ideal photovoltaic material for low-cost solar module production. By 1998, the team had developed a pilot production process featuring an inline, single-vacuum semiconductor deposition tool. Over the course of the next few years, the team continued to develop and refine the technology with strong support from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the National Science Foundation. By 2004, the founding team had scaled up the technology glass panels of in size. Federal funding from NREL and the Solar America Initiative enabled them to prove the viability of the technology. In 2006, AVA Solar, Inc. was formed with private funding from local angel investors to commercialize the technology. In early 2007, institutional investors discovered the company and the proprietary manufacturing process that had been developed. Abound received a $400 million in loan guarantee from the U.S. government in 2010. In 2012 the company laid off almost half its employees.〔MATTHEW MOSK (Abound Solar Lays off 180 ) February 29, 2012 ABC News〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Abound Solar Announces Plan to Accelerate Production of its Next Generation High-Efficiency Modules )〕 On June 28, 2012, Abound Solar announced it suspended operations and will file for bankruptcy protection.〔 〕 Abound filed for bankruptcy over the summer of 2012. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Abound Solar」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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