Another “alternative” energy firm, that is:

The Amonix solar manufacturing plant in North Las Vegas, subsidized by more than $20 million in federal tax credits and grants, has closed its 214,000-square-foot facility about a year after it opened.

Officials at Amonix headquarters in Seal Beach, Calif., have not responded to repeated calls for comment this week, but the company began selling equipment, from automated tooling systems to robotic welding cells, in an online auction Wednesday.

A designer and manufacturer of concentrated photovoltaic solar power systems, Amonix received $6 million in federal tax credits for the North Las Vegas plant and a $15.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy in 2007 for research and development.

This might have something to do with it…energy is a commodity and as such, pricing of any form must reflect the economy per unit of output…natural gas, adjusted for inflation, is cheaper today than it was 30 years ago – and more plentiful.

Somebody cue Freddy Mercury…