Solyndra Chapter 11; End of US Solar mfg.?

If I remember correctly - this enterprise was given considerable Federal Stimulus / Grants - wonder if we'll see compensation (taxpayer nation)

Still, hate to see the business plan fail....

Only a lousy 500 million dollars in loan guarantees I believe.

It was never on track - what they wanted to do sounded neat but was considered basically flawed by most in the business.

We're just about to break ground on a new manufacturing plant here in Arizona. So, no, not entirely dead. Just moving.

First Solar picks Mesa for big plant

They will be moving again once they burned through the installation encouragement subsidies and other local support money...

We have seen that many times when the tax money is used to "stimulate" enterprises.

No doubt the General is LynDoor™ Industries, Construction Division.

Nope. Not us. We make our money the old fashioned way.

LynDoor™ Industries is not a partner in this endeavour.

LynDoor™ Industries

You print it?

No, we have invented a way to get the black ink off of all that contaminated money that was floating around earlier.

It is indeed a very tough environment for solar PV manufacturers, but from day one, I could never find a reason to use the product. It was always more expensive, with poor power density. It did have a better time of production curve, but that is actually a disadvantage on a grid tied PV system, as production that is peak demand oriented is desirable. If I were off grid, I guess it would make some sense, but that market is miniscule. The racking is nice, ballast requirement is very low, snow shedding is maybe a little better. All in all, a complete puzzle to me why they thought it would sell, unless it was cheaper, and it is almost 75% more expensive. They must have thought they could dominate the market and reduce costs so that it was a logical choice, which is what solar will have to be very shortly when it reaches parity, without subsidies.

PFR - I think you scored it pretty well. Solyndra's design was a for a high quality product designed for long life reliability and low installation and maintenance cost. (but a prolonged payback period) The sacrifice was peak performance.

That would have been OK in another time and set of market conditions. But the market today has a short time perspective and very limited capital to invest. Solyndra was also caught in that in-between period when they were trying to ramp up production to gain economies of scale but were still trying to pay the development bills and staff salaries with shrinking income from sales.

Blame the Chinese silicon cell competition, blame the unwillingness or inability of commercial customers to invest, blame the bearish economic outlook of investment capital sources, whatever. They just got caught by the turn of economic events. Depressions have a way of creating these scenarios.

You can be cynical about the political side of this and the government grant. I see little constructive coming out of that angle. I don't see where the Feds stand in the line to collect from the outcome of the bankruptcy. I figure they are pretty close to the front of the line. Maybe it'll be like the car companies. We'll see; and, of course, we'll bitch about it.

When the receivers and the bankruptcy court get done sorting out the assets the picture may not look so grim for us taxpayers. (The various private investors might not fare so well). There's a brand new factory there full of well designed and documented brand new production equipment. The product is well designed and thought out for a specific place in the market (which sadly went to sleep at the wrong time). I think there is some serious asset value there for someone with a view to a future of a less frantic business environment than exists today. There will likely be an acquisition price for those assets beyond just the value of the empty building and a bunch of scrap machines that can be the base of a good looking business plan.

Ed Weldon

Probably not the end of US Green Tech, but hopefully the end of unsound taxpayer subsidies. Governments are usually poor at picking winners (wrong reasons & poor oversight). Political photo ops are not a good reason.

Good concepts and ideas with sound technology and business plans don't need government subsidies. Free market capital investment backs these with better risk & oversight management.

Much of TARP has been repaid, but don't hold your breath waiting for any financial recovery on this one.

http://dailycaller.com/2011/09/01/bankrupt-solar-company-with-fed-backing-has-cozy-ties-to-obama-admin/

http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/solyndras-lobbyists

Nice gig if you can get it...

You got my vote for a GA on that one.

If only we could raise your awareness of the oil and military industrial complex efforts to rake in the billions. I am really curious as to why it is ok on one hand, but not on the other. You're right, lobby efforts made this happen. Lobby efforts make everything happen in Washington, and the solar industry has real benefits, especially if we can develop an energy policy that creates real independence and a dynamic global leading industry. You think we are going to get that without making some heavy bets? Dream on.

You think we are going to get that without making some heavy bets?

I don't even think we'll get it. Barak's mission is bankrupting this country. That's not to say we didn't let it happen. It's all liberal socialist agenda, and we're blind to it for the most part.

We will get energy independence, because unless we do, your Visa card will be issued by The Bank of Saudi Arabia.

I had to laugh out loud at this reply. We were bankrupted by wholesale spending in good economic times, with limited supervision of financial institutions, literal deliveries of bags of cash and gold to military contractors to buy puppet governments in the middle east, military invasions justified by the rational fear of terrorism and huge tax breaks in the face of huge spending increases. We were decimated economically, by diverting capital into non productive ventures, for the benefit of some cronies and corporations, and you've been convinced it's the fault of the current spending effort to jump start the economy.

It was so cozy and calculated, it makes us all look like complete idiots for letting it happen. And now, you say it's Barrack Obama, who just accomplished in Libya in 6 months, no casualties, and a tiny fraction of money, what George Bush tried to do in Iraq in 5 years, with 900 billion dollars, hundreds of casualties, and then threw in the presidents lap. I'm sure someone will call me unpatriotic for saying this, that I disrespect the soldiers. I despise those people for even suggesting that the US military is anything less than devoted to performing anything they are asked to do.

Think about this. Almost every republican elected official is screaming that we need to reduce regulation, and that will create jobs. I own a business. The regulations I deal with generally protect my workers, the environment, and keep me from being able to perform work that is substandard. (my customers) You actually want Citi bank to be able to package junk loans into triple A rated securities? Sure, red tape is infuriating, but with customers, and I can make plenty of money. Open your eyes! As Bob Woodward so eloquently said, "Follow the money" Maybe you are blind, but I'm not.

In America, we have become complacent and reactionary in regard to our policy on energy independence. Look at Germany and other countries like that, with an inferior solar resource, they have managed to carve their path towards energy independence by exceeding their self imposed, high mandates for clean energy. This probably comes from the view that when you lose everything at least twice, you become more pro-active. We have been spoiled in this country and totally at the whims of volatile market commodities and traders (anyone remember Enron Still?) When a Coal company can lose over $1million dollars a day from one 400mw boiler being down in generation revenue, or an oil platform in the gulf can lose $32-36 million a day in generation revenue, don't you think that these companies will do everything in their interest to keep people on the hook? Including Lobbying? Look at Chevron and the big utilities last year, $196million here, $40million there, then follow the votes. If $500 million to Solyndra is bad, consider the $9 BILLION we gave the nuclear industry, and the the additional $25billion we keep trying to give them (on a defense bill ryder) for projects that may never get permitted, are historically $10's of millions over budget (check France and Georgia) and decades behind schedule. Does anyone realize how many jobs we could spur in the renewable sector tomorrow, without a lot of the potential environmental and safety pitfalls, on something that we know can get permitted and is not a commodity? BTW, storage is really a non-issue with the grid. They have been working just fine in countries that have chosen to be on their path towards energy independence. It's a matter of getting people to coalesce behind a common cause (think WWII industry) and get off the commodity roller coaster.

Germany has a butt load of windmills, but they are hardly ever turning. The difference between generation capacity and actual generation is immense. They get most of their energy in the form of natural gas from Russia who likes to hold it's clients hostage. And they are dismantling the cleanest energy source they have (nuclear power) in the process.

What are talking about? Get your facts straight. Germany produces over 7 % of it energy (that is not capacity) from wind and over 2 % from solar (also not capacity).

They are dismantling nuclear as they are able to find alternate sources. I personally would pick the Russians over Iranians, but I'm open to options.

How is any of that in opposition to what I said? Germany gets ONLY 10% of it's energy from "renewable resources" but what is not stated is the COST of those systems. And if I recall last winter (or perhaps it was the year before, I don't recall for sure) Russia held all of Europe hostage by shutting off ALL of the gas flowing into Europe. We get about the same amount of energy from wind and/or solar BTW.

Your numbers are off a bit. http://www.pewtrusts.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/Fact_Sheets/Clean_Energy_Economy/Germany_profile.pdf?n=3795 http://www.pewtrusts.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/Fact_Sheets/Clean_Energy_Economy/US_profile.pdf?n=1742

you are confusing capacity with actual generation. capacity assumes that all of them are turning in a stiff breeze, problem is that a lot of them are idle at any given time.

those poor saps forgot to factor in the wind speed! They never was that good at cipherin'.

No it is PEW, and they have their own little agenda.

Just mentioning

it's a lost cause. Facts don't matter. Fear of change is the most powerful sociopolitical force there is. Many people think the water will be clean, the air will be pure, trees will be plentiful, food will be healthy, drugs will be safe, oil can be inexhaustible, energy will be cheap, if we would just leave private industry alone. I'm sorry, because I wish I could help.

Rorschach, Here is a link to actual numbers for gas: http://www.energydelta.org/mainmenu/edi-intelligence-2/our-services/Country-gas-profiles/country-profile-germany Russia does import the most, with Norway right behind them. Like us, coal is still their primary fuel source. Small technical detail, they are wind turbines, not windmills (windmills do mechanical work, while wind turbines produce electricity). The Nuclear is a whole other topic. The point is that other countries, China and the UAE, see the writing on the wall and are being smart about their goals. We will be the ones left in the dust. From a country who used to get it....

How about Federal loan guarantee to those U.S. solar firms in the Obama government? Look at this Solyndra LLC, it had obtained a $535 million federal loan guarantee in 2010. But now, it declared that they would be filing for bankruptcy. What could be the reason behind? Article same subject is Government-supported Solyndra declares bankruptcy .Financial management is really crucial and risky in an organization considering it's asset, liabilities and income. The SWOT analysis can identify its annual performance and can determine possible strategic solutions either for survival or for dissolution in the business industry.