That's just 100% wrong. Thin film panels were not "promoted", there were many who felt at one time that they would be less expensive*. That was based really on a short sighted look at the market for refined silicon. As production of refined silicon increased (along with other factors) the cost of crystaline panels fell and made thin film panels relatively less attractive.

You really argue like a zealot. Like you can't even back off from one single point where you are patently wrong. And now you're just making things up about why thin film was being promoted.

Btw, the bad decision to pursue thin film is largely why Solyndra sucked and was doomed to failure from the beginning. One company, First Solar, has been fairly successful at thin film and has managed to keep costs low enough so that it hasn't completely disappeared. They are an American company and who knows how they would have fared if not for the tariffs that Obama put on Chinese panels and then Trump on all foreign panels.

* they are still less expensive per watt, but they don't last as long so not necessarily per kwh and they are considerably less efficient so they take up more space for the same production.