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By YULIYA CHERNOVA

Long viewed as a remedy for the world’s dependence on fossil fuels, the solar industry is dimming as makers of panels used to harness the sun continue to fall by the wayside.

Bankruptcies, plummeting stock prices and crushing debt loads are calling into question the viability of an industry that since the 1970s has been counted on to advance the U.S.—and the world—into a new energy age.

Global demand for solar power is still growing—about 8% more solar panels will be installed this year compared with 2010, according to Jefferies Group analysis—but it is expected to flat-line next year.

At the heart of the industry woes are swiftly falling prices for solar panels and their components—polysilicon, wafers, cells and the modules themselves. The reason is simple: There are simply too many manufacturers trying to sell their wares.

Over the past several months, at least seven solar-panel manufacturers have filed for bankruptcy or insolvency, including two German companies in the past week—Solar Millennium AG and Solon SE—and, most notably, Solyndra LLC, the Fremont, Calif., company embroiled in a criminal investigation into whether the company defrauded the U.S. government.

Of the 10 largest publicly traded companies by market capitalization whose focus is making solar components, six reported losses in the third quarter, and all but one of these 10 saw their bottom line weaken from a year earlier. Underscoring how debt is weighing down the industry, six of the 10 also had debt on their balance sheets that exceeded their market capitalizations.

Many more manufacturers are in a precarious financial situation, such as Energy Conversion Devices Inc., whose stock has nose-dived by 95% this year as the Auburn Hills, Mich., company has suspended factory operations, deferred interest payments and restructured its staff. Energy Conversion couldn’t be reached for comment.

Overall, public-market investors are punishing the solar sector, sending shares down nearly 57% this year as of Dec. 19, according to investment bank Stifel Nicolaus, compared with a decline of 3% for the S&P 500.

Even First Solar Inc., the darling of the industry, is restructuring amid weaker results and project delays. In a Dec. 14 call with analysts that Jeff Osborne, an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus, said “seemed like the funeral for the whole sector,” Mike Ahearn, FirstSolar’s chairman and interim CEO, said the industry will suffer pricing pressures indefinitely.

This means the shakeout among manufacturers will likely continue for some time. “The industry simply cannot support 300-plus cell and modular manufacturers, so the companies left will capitulate and exit the industry,” said Zhengrong Shi, chief executive of Chinese solar-panel manufacturer Suntech Power Holdings Co., during a late-November call with investors. Suntech is cutting its operating expenses by at least 20% next year as it hopes to stem this year’s 70% stock-price slide.

The glut of manufacturers stems from various sources over the last several years, including efforts by the U.S. government to encourage clean technology, venture capitalists pouring into the sector and institutional investors buying into IPO issues of solar companies amid an oil-price boom and a heightened sense of climate-change urgency. At the same time, European governments offered rich subsidies for solar installation, driving demand in the market.

“People were doing what they can to make a profit, without thinking ahead,” said Pallavi Madakasira, an analyst with research firm Lux Research Inc.

But the biggest factor was the decision by the Chinese government to direct its banks to lend freely to new manufacturers a few years ago. Since 2009, Chinese banks have offered at least $43 billion in credit facilities to Chinese renewable-energy companies, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. It isn’t clear how much of that money has been drawn down, but the easy access to capital during the height of the global credit crunch allowed Chinese companies to build factories and start production, forcing competitors in Europe and the U.S. to do the same.

The plentiful production of solar panels resulted in a cutthroat pricing competition. A year ago, customers—mostly distributors of panels and project developers—could buy solar panels for $1.60 per watt, on average. Now the going price is between 90 cents to $1.05 per watt, according to investment bank Jefferies.

Meanwhile, U.S. trade authorities are investigating domestic manufacturers’ complaints over possible dumping of solar panels on the U.S. market by Chinese makers.

Despite the buyers’ market, customers aren’t opening their wallets fast enough. In Europe, which buys more solar panels than any other region, banks clamped up on funding and customers wound up with warehouses full of solar panels, causing them to defer additional orders. Many are also wary about committing to new solar contracts while prices keep falling.

Germany, for years the world’s largest market for solar, is seeing a 29% decline in demand this year over 2010, according to Jefferies. That is quite a contrast to 2010, when installations in Germany nearly doubled.

Meanwhile, in the U.S. demand has actually risen because utilities have been buying solar power to fill state mandates, while large plant projects continue to attract investment from companies such as Google Inc., NRG Energy Inc. and MidAmerican Energy Co. That growth may not be sustainable, however, because the mandates for renewable energy are quickly being fulfilled.

And if solar is getting cheaper, so too is competing natural-gas power.

Faced with demand challenges, many manufacturers are beginning to moderate how much they produce. That means factories, already built and put in place, are underutilized, which raises the cost per each panel produced.

There is still light on the industry’s horizon. Electricity demand globally is set to rise over the next few years, as developing nations gobble up power and suffer from power-plant pollution—a problem that solar can help alleviate. And as technology advances and costs drop, solar-panel makers can supply power without a need for heavy government subsidies.

But those new markets will take time to emerge. In the meantime, companies will continue to struggle to survive the crunch.

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(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET)

One-time industry pioneer BP Solar has completely closed up shop.

After 40 years and multiple efforts to remain commercially viable, parent company BP has decided to exit the business entirely, according to spokesperson Robert Wine.

BP Solar had already closed manufacturing in the U.S., Spain, and Australia in an effort to lower costs. In July, it said it would only pursue only larger projects, rather than residential and commercial rooftop installations.

The rapid commoditization of lower-cost solar panels manufactured in Asia meant that BP Solar’s products were no longer viable in Europe, Australia, and the U.S. where BP operated, Wine said.

The company, which famously touted the “Beyond Petroleum” name, remains committed to alternative energies in onshore wind as well as biofuels, he said, adding BP expects to reach $8 billion in research and development in this area by 2015 at the latest.

BP Solar is the latest casualty in a rapidly consolidating solar industry where global price competition has been blamed for a number of bankruptcies in the U.S. Last week, another industry front-runner, Solon in Germany, announced it was insolvent and will seek to restructure its debts.

The upside of product commoditization is lower prices for consumers. The cost for solar photovoltaic panels has dropped more than 50 percent in the past two years and continues to fall, according to analysts.

Even amid all the business woes at established solar manufacturers, there still remains activity among newcomers. Stion, which makes thin-film solar cells and panels yesterday raised $130 million to expand into Asia. It’s one a number of thin-film companies seeking a foothold with a lower-cost product than traditional silicon solar panels.

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By MATTHEW DALY

Associated Press

WASHINGTON e_SEmD An unapologetic Energy Secretary Steven Chu defended a half-billion-dollar federal loan to a solar-panel manufacturer that went belly up, even as he told a House committee Thursday he was unaware of dozens of key details that led to the debacle over Solyndra Inc.

Under hours of hostile questioning from Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Chu declined several opportunities to say he was sorry, but acknowledged that in hindsight the deal was “extremely unfortunate” and “regrettable.”

“Certainly knowing what I know now, we’d say ‘no,’ ” Chu said during a daylong hearing before the energy panel’s subcommittee on investigations. “But you don’t make decisions fast-forwarding two years in the future and then go back. I wish I could do that.”

Chu insisted that politics played no role in his department’s decision to loan Solyndra $528 million before it went bankrupt and laid off 1,100 workers.

Testifying under oath on a widening controversy, Chu took responsibility for the disastrous 2009 loan, but said he was unaware of many details about the loan or financial problems that Solyndra faced — including predictions by Energy Department staff two years ago that the company was likely to face severe cash-flow problems.

Chu repeatedly said he didn’t know until recently of problems with Solyndra or suggestions of political interference on the company’s behalf by the White House or Energy Department officials.

“I am aware of it now,” he said at least five times.

Solyndra, of Fremont, Calif., was the first renewable-energy company to receive a loan guarantee under the 2009 stimulus law, and the Obama administration frequently touted it as a model for its clean energy program. Chu attended a 2009 groundbreaking when the loan was announced, and President Barack Obama visited the company’s headquarters last year.

Chu took responsibility for a later decision to approve a restructuring of Solyndra’s debt that allowed private investors to move ahead of taxpayers for repayment in case of default.

Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., was unimpressed.

“I’ve heard a lot of talk about politics, I’ve seen a lot of emails from within the administration about politics,” he told Chu. “I don’t see any chain of emails looking out for the taxpayer money. That’s what stinks the most about this.”

Since then, the company’s implosion and revelations that the administration hurried a review of the loan in time for the groundbreaking has become an embarrassment for Chu and Obama and a rallying cry for GOP critics of the administration’s green energy program.

Contradicting assertions by several committee Republicans, Chu said no one from the White House ever contacted him to make a political decision on the loan.

“I want to be clear: Over the course of Solyndra’s loan guarantee, I did not make any decision based on political considerations,” he said.

Still, Chu acknowledged mistakes and said that if he had the chance to do it again, he would not have approved the $528 million loan.

Chu also said he doesn’t expect taxpayers will recover much of the money lost in the transaction.

Again and again, Chu expressed ignorance of issues related to the loan or the Obama administration’s handling of it. For instance, Chu said he did not know until this week that some unidentified DOE officials had urged Solyndra to delay an early round of layoffs until after 2010 midterm elections.

“I was not part of that decision, and I certainly would not have been in favor of that decision,” he said.

Rep. John Sullivan, R-Okla., asked Chu how closely he was involved in the loan process.

He has to approve the loans and be briefed on them, Chu replied, “and I ask questions about the loans as they come up.”

Chu also denied he was influenced by a major Obama campaign donor, George Kaiser, an Oklahoma billionaire who invested $400 million in the solar company through an investment vehicle connected to a family foundation. Kaiser has said he played no part in helping Solyndra win the 2009 loan, but emails released last week show he discussed Solyndra with the White House on at least one occasion. Kaiser also directed business associates on how to approach the White House and Energy Department to help Solyndra deal with its financial problems.

Chu told lawmakers he did not know who Kaiser was when the loan was approved. He said he is aware of Kaiser now, in the wake of media reports about Kaiser’s investment in Solyndra.

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, said he found that hard to believe, since Kaiser was an Obama financial “bundler” who visited the White House frequently in 2009, while the Solyndra loan was being considered.

“Everybody and their dog at DOE knew who he was and what he was involved in,” Barton said of Kaiser. “We have on the record that he was around the White House at least 16 times in the time period the Solyndra loan program was being reviewed.”

Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the energy panel, said he was astonished at how many red flags about Solyndra — including many from the Energy Department itself — were either ignored or minimized by the Obama administration.

“At every opportunity, Solyndra and DOE officials, including Secretary Chu, publicly assured the American people that Solyndra was on track and would eventually thrive, right up until the time that Solyndra declared bankruptcy,” Upton said.

Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., chastised Chu for his repeated answers that he was not aware of problems at Solyndra or warnings about the company.

“Throughout all of this, you seem to have an unawareness of these very major issues,” Stearns said.

Rep. Martin Griffith, R-Va., said he had a hard time believing that Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, was as out of the loop as he claimed.

“I know you didn’t leave your brains at the door,” he told Chu.

Chu said his decision to approve the loan was based on the analysis of experienced professionals and on the strength of the information they had available to them at the time.

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By Ben Geman – 11/29/11 12:10 PM ET

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) predicted Tuesday that Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel will be among a number of former and current White House officials called to testify about federal aid to the failed solar company Solyndra.

Barton, a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, told Texas radio station WBAP that the committee will continue probing Solyndra, which received a $535 million Energy Department loan guarantee in 2009 and went bankrupt almost three months ago.

“We will have a number of hearings in the next couple of months, and I think at some point in time you will get some of the senior White House staff to testify, and probably the former chief of staff who is now mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel; I think you will probably have him come in,” Barton said.

Solyndra was the first company to receive an Energy Department loan guarantee and officials held up the firm as an example of administration efforts to bolster green energy businesses, but White House aides also fretted about its prospects.

The degree of Emanuel’s potential involvement in Solyndra remains unclear. Emanuel has said he does not recall talk of the Solyndra loan guarantee.

According to published reports, however, an August 2009 email from White House aide Aditya Kumar to other aides noted “[Klain] has talked to Rahm about this and feels Rahm wants this too (barring any concerns)—POTUS’s involvement was Rahm’s idea.”

Vice President Biden appeared via videoconference to tout the finalization of the loan guarantee in 2009, and President Obama toured the company and spoke there in May of 2010.

Barton, in the interview, didn’t name any specific White House aides beyond Emanuel, who resigned in October 2010 to run, successfully, for mayor of Chicago.

Emails disclosed through the GOP-led probe show aides who discussed Solyndra include former Biden Chief of Staff Ron Klain, White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, energy aide Heather Zichal, and others.

A spokesman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s GOP leadership, when asked about Barton’s comment, declined to say whether Emanuel and other White House aides might be asked to testify.

“Details for future hearings – including the range of potential witnesses – will be announced when they are available,” the spokesman said.

An Energy and Commerce Committee panel, voting along party lines, has twice subpoenaed the Obama administration and has thus far received more than 185,000 pages of documents from the White House and various federal agencies.

But Barton told the radio station that more is needed. “The White House has released some documents and emails but not anywhere near what in my opinion they should,” he said.

Republicans are focusing on both the decision to issue the loan guarantee and its early 2011 restructuring, which occurred as the company was struggling, that put private investors who provided additional funds ahead of the government for repayment if the company collapsed.

The GOP has used Solyndra to bash administration green energy financing, and alleged that the White House exerted undue political influence over the Solyndra loan guarantee. They have noted in particular that the foundation of George Kaiser, a top Obama fundraiser, was a major investor in the project.

But the White House strongly denies the loan guarantee was a political reward, and Energy Secretary Steven Chu said at a hearing this month that decisions about Solyndra were not influenced by politics. So far, Republicans have not uncovered evidence that the loan guarantee was issued for political reasons.

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By DARREN SAMUELSOHN | 11/17/11 2:56 PM EST

The chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subpanel investigating Solyndra on Thursday afternoon called for Energy Secretary Steven Chu to be fired.

“I think it’s ultimately the president’s decision,” said Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.). “But ultimately there has been a legal subordination which I think has been brought up. I think the secretary is unaware of so many things that have happened that would question his financial ability and his management of very complex corporations.

“So I just think he has failed the test,” he added.

Stearns also invoked Dan Carol, the research director of the 2008 Obama campaign who sent an email in February to White House counselor Pete Rouse, who suggested a DOE shakeup that included removing Chu.

“And I agree with Dan Carol’s email that at this point that he probably should be replaced by the president,” Stearns said.

Shortly before Stearns’s remarks, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) told Chu during the Energy and Commerce hearing that he didn’t think the secretary should be asked to leave.

“I’ve been asked a half-dozen times today whether I think you should resign, and I’ve said every time I don’t think you should resign,” Barton said.

But Barton said that based on the release last week of Carol’s email, he thinks someone in the Obama administration may be trying to throw Chu under the bus.

“I do think you’re a man of integrity. I think you’re trying to do your job as best that as you can. I also happen to believe that it’s possible you’re being set up to be the fall guy,” Barton said.

Barton said Chu was “culpable” for DOE’s February 2011 decision to change the terms of Solyndra’s loan so that private investors could get paid back before the government if the company went belly up.

DOE attorneys, Chu responded, found that the change in the terms of the loan was within the bounds of the 2005 Energy Policy Act and gave the government the best chance to get paid back by keeping Solyndra afloat.

Facing calls for Chu to go earlier this week, White House spokesman Eric Schultz replied, “Secretary Chu has the president’s full confidence and we are all proud of his tenure as secretary of Energy. Under his leadership, we are on track to double the generation of renewable energy from sources like wind and solar, we are taking steps to ensure that we can continue to develop our domestic resources safely and responsibly, while working to increase our nations clean energy share from other sources like natural gas, nuclear power, and clean coal.”

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By Justin Sink – 11/19/11 01:22 PM ET

A key House Republican who has been highly critical of the Obama administration for providing loan guarantees to now-bankrupt solar energy firm Solyndra urged the Energy Department to help fund a Michigan solar company that has now also suspended operations.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) sent a letter to Energy Secretary Steven Chu in 2009 recommending a loan for United Solar Ovonics, a solar company in his home state, according to the Washington Post. But the company announced earlier this month that it would be laying off 140 workers at two manufacturing plants.

Democrats argue that Upton’s advocacy is exactly the type of choosing “winners and losers” that the chairman has denounced in the investigation in to Solyndra, another solar company that went bankrupt after recieving a large federal loan guarantee. But Upton’s office dismissed the comparison, saying that the Energy Department is the one tasked with making decisions about backing loans, and that Upton had simply asked the Department to evaluate United Solar.

A spokesman for Upton also noted that Michigan Democrats – including Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin, along with Rep. John Dingell – signed onto the letter, and that the firm had not received the loan.

“Many in Congress questioned whether the stimulus would produce the promised jobs. At the same time, members on both sides of the aisle wanted to see jobs created and folks put back to work, especially in Michigan,” said Alexa Marrero, Upton’s spokesman, to the Post.

The questions from Democrats are similar to those asked when House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) first raised issue with the Solyndra loan program.

Issa sought to obtain a federal energy loan for a green-car company in his state, and received a campaign donation from one of the business’s trustees and advisers.

“There is nothing new or surprising about the existence of federal loan guarantee programs or members of Congress writing letters in support of home state businesses who apply for them,” said Frederick Hill, a spokesman for Issa, said at the time.

“The focus of questions and concerns are about actual bill provisions and their interpretation by the administration that resulted in decisions to bestow connected firms like Solyndra with special treatment.”

As with Upton, the company Issa advocated on behalf of did not receive its loan.

The Obama administration has denied wrongdoing in the Solyndra case, saying that the Department of Energy followed guidelines in providing the loan guarantees. Secretary Chu testified about the program Thursday before Congress.

“As the secretary of Energy, the final decisions on Solyndra were mine, and I made them with the best interest of the taxpayer in mind,” Chu said, surrounded by about a dozen photographers. “I want to be clear: Over the course of Solyndra’s loan guarantee, I did not make any decision based on political considerations.”

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By Andrew Restuccia and Ben Geman – 11/16/11 07:02 PM ET

State of play: Energy Secretary Steven Chu will face off with congressional investigators Thursday morning in the highest-profile hearing yet on the $535 million loan guarantee to the failed solar company Solyndra.

Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s investigative panel are preparing to pepper Chu with questions about the Energy Department’s decision to approve the loan guarantee in 2009, and the deal’s restructuring early this year as the company was teetering on the edge of financial collapse.

“We want to hear his thoughts on why two of the first three loans made with stimulus subsidies have gone belly up. We need to understand why red flags were ignored because of the urgency to get these dollars out the door. And we need to know whether this administration believes, after all we have learned, whether it was a mistake to put taxpayers on the line for half a billion dollars to this one company,” Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), the chairman of the investigative subcommittee, said in a joint statement Wednesday.

The GOP has pummeled the Obama administration over Solyndra in recent weeks, questioning the Energy Department’s investments in renewable energy projects and alleging that politics played a role in the decision to grant the loan guarantee to the California solar company.

The ongoing investigation has dredged up more than 185,000 pages of documents, portions of which lawmakers have strategically released ahead of the hearing.

Expect Republicans to come to the hearing toting a slew of documents that they will argue raise questions about Chu’s decision-making. They are also likely to bring up two sets of documents committee staff have recently reviewed: internal Solyndra emails from Chu and White House emails related to the February restructuring.

The Energy Department has sought to get out in front of the hearing. Chu previewed his testimony in an interview with NPR earlier this week and the department released excerpts of the secretary’s prepared remarks Wednesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Energy Department spokesman Damien LaVera launched a Twitter account this week just in time to combat Republican attacks.

Later Wednesday, the committee released Chu’s full written testimony. Chu will sound a familiar alarm about the dangers of not investing in clean energy. He’ll also insist that the Solyndra loan guarantee was “subject to proper, rigorous scrutiny.”

Chu will take full responsibility for the decision to grant the loan guarantee, and strongly deny allegations of political influence.

“As the Secretary of Energy, the final decisions on Solyndra were mine, and I made them with the best interest of the taxpayer in mind. I want to be clear: over the course of Solyndra’s loan guarantee, I did not make any decision based on political considerations,” he will say.

“My decision to guarantee a loan to Solyndra was based on the analysis of experienced professionals and on the strength of the information they had available to them at the time.”

The Obama administration says that politics played no role in the Solyndra loan guarantee, insisting that it was approved on its merits. So far, Republicans’ Solyndra investigation has not uncovered the smoking gun the GOP is looking for.

But emails released in recent months show that there was disagreement within the administration on the wisdom of approving the loan guarantee, an issue that is sure to come up at Thursday’s hearing.

Committee Republicans also released a memo Tuesday that suggests the administration pressed Solyndra to delay a 2010 lay-off announcement until after the midterm elections.

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By Andrew Restuccia – 11/15/11 11:56 AM ET

Portions of emails released by House Republicans suggest that Obama administration officials pressed the now-bankrupt solar company Solyndra to delay announcing pending layoffs until after the 2010 midterm elections.

Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison emailed the Energy Department in October 2010 to alert officials that he planned to announce layoffs at the solar panel manufacturer on Oct. 28, 2010.

“Solyndra has received some press inquiries about rumors of problems (one of them with quite accurate information) and we have received inbound calls from potential investors,” Harrison wrote in the email, noting that he would like to soon announce the layoffs. “Both of these data points indicate the story is starting to leak outside Solyndra.”

In an Oct. 30, 2010, email, advisers for Argonaut Private Equity, a major investor in Solyndra, said Energy Department officials asked the company to delay the announcement that Solyndra would shutter a manufacturing facility and lay off workers until Nov. 3, one day after the midterm elections.

“They did push very hard for us to hold our announcement of the consolidation to employees and vendors to Nov. 3rd — oddly they didn’t give a reason for that date,” the Argonaut advisers wrote in their email. The news was first reported Tuesday morning by The Washington Post.

The emails will fuel GOP claims that Obama administration officials made decisions about the solar company for political reasons.

“The plot thickens,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) wrote in a tweet that linked to the Post story about the emails.

But the GOP probe — which has uncovered about 185,000 pages of documents — has not uncovered evidence that the decision to issue the loan guarantee or the early 2011 decision to restructure its terms showed political favoritism.

Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, who have launched an investigation into the $535 million loan guarantee to the failed solar company, released portions of the emails Tuesday in a memo.

In the memo, the committee members state that “several emails produced by Argonaut to the Committee reference the fact that the layoff announcement was postponed because of the November 2 elections.”

The Energy Department dismissed the emails Tuesday.

“The Republican report cites internal email from Argonaut about the timing of a press release,” Energy Department spokesman Damien LaVera said in a statement. “But as the 180,000 pages of documents that the Department of Energy turned over to the Committee indicate, the Department’s decisions about this loan were made on the merits, based on extensive review by the experts in the loan program – and nothing in this Republican Committee memo changes that.”

Solyndra ultimately announced on Nov. 3, 2010, that it would close a manufacturing facility in Fremont, Calif., and lay off 40 workers. The announcement marked the beginning of a tumultuous period for the company, which ultimately filed for bankruptcy in September after laying off an additional 1,100 workers, setting off a firestorm in Washington.

Republicans have pounced on the bankruptcy, raising broad questions about President Obama’s green energy agenda.

The memo was released ahead of Energy and Commerce Committee testimony Thursday by Energy Secretary Steven Chu. The hearing marks the culmination of a months-long investigation of the Solyndra loan guarantee.

In the memo, Republicans said Thursday’s hearing with Chu will focus on three major questions:

* “How did the stimulus and Secretary Chu’s directive to accelerate the review of loan guarantee applications impact the review of the Solyndra application?”

* “Should DOE have better anticipated the financial problems that Solyndra experienced?”

* “Did the DOE take adequate steps to protect the taxpayer when it negotiated the terms and conditions of the Solyndra guarantee and its restructuring?”

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