The sun no longer shines: Local solar panel company scales back

The timing was a tad unfortunate.

There was President Barack Obama on Thursday, standing outside a Las Vegas UPS plant holding a campaign rally to tout the use of alternative fuels. Meanwhile, across town, another of the administration's efforts at playing venture capitalist in the energy industry was going ... poof!

The day before the president arrived in town, Amonix, a solar-panel manufacturer in North Las Vegas that received $5.9 million in federal stimulus funding, announced it was laying off almost two-thirds of its workforce -- about 200 people -- in an effort to "retool."

The company had been in operation less than a year, opening last May in an industrial park near Pecos and Craig roads with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Gov. Brian Sandoval. The plant was supposed to help drag the area out of economic malaise. Backers claimed an overall economic impact of $608 million, including $118 million in annual payroll and $12.5 million in local and state tax revenue.

Obviously, those numbers will need to be adjusted.

No, this is not a debacle on the scale of Solyndra, the California solar panel manufacturer that folded after sucking down $535 million in federal handouts. Amonix actually generated a fair amount of private backing, although it did receive more than $21 million in total federal subsidies. And, unlike Solyndra, Amonix officials say they will remain open and even "ramp back up" later this year.

But it is certainly another cautionary tale when it comes to the current economic hype over alternative fuels and the viability of green energy.