Solyndra

Solar panel company, sold $6 solar panels for $3. 

Owner George Kaiser, big Obama donor.

Kaiser was given $535 million fed loan. Solyndra went bankrupt and lost 1100 jobs.

Source: "Time To Get Tough" by Donald Trump

Solyndra is a California "green" company that went bankrupt despite $500 million in stimulus dollars. In September 2011, FBI officials raided their Fremont, Ca. solar plant and homes of executives.

“These are the same executives who visited the White House on at least 20 occasions and had Obama administration officials sit it on their board meetings. ”

President Barack Hussein Obama and his administration, appears to have had an extensive relationship with Solyndra LLC. Investigations have revealed that the California Democrat Party became a financial creditor for Solyndra. Rush Limbaugh said, "It's a money laundering racket is what that was ..." for the Democrat party.

Most Democrat senators voted against cutting future funding for green boondoggle companies like Solyndra.

Source: https://www.conservapedia.com/Solyndra

The Solyndra scandal began in September 2011.  Solyndra was a thin film solar cell company that began in 2008 and received a loan guarantee of approximately $535,000,000 as part of the green jobs portion of the Obama stimulus bill in early 2009. The company used this easy money to build a state of the art factory which they continued to "improve" on up until within 1 week of filing for bankruptcy protection. Before the plant was constructed a Chinese firm had begun producing a similar thin film solar product at a lower price than that projected for Solyndra's product. Divorcing the financing of projects from the market reality of the sector enables these sorts of mishaps and Solyndra is not the only green jobs stimulus firm affected. The plant has had difficulty finding a buyer  presumably because of the futility of producing an inferior product while making a profit.

Source: https://www.conservapedia.com/Solyndra_scandal

 Solyndra Not Sole Firm to Hit Rock Bottom Despite Stimulus Funding FOX News, retrieved Sept 17, 2011

Solyndra, the solar panel company whose highly publicized failure and consequent investigation by federal authorities has flashed across headlines recently, isn't the only business to go belly up after benefiting from a piece of the $800 billion economic stimulus package passed in 2009.

At least four other companies have received stimulus funding only to later file for bankruptcy, and two of those were working on alternative energy.

Evergreen Solar Inc., reportedly received $5.3 million of stimulus cash through a state grant to install 11,000 photovoltaic panels installed at 11 colleges and universities, a recycling facility and an education center in Massachusetts.

The company, once a rock star in the solar industry, filed for bankruptcy protection last month, saying it couldn't compete with Chinese rivals without reorganizing. The company intends to focus on building up its manufacturing facility in China.

SpectraWatt, based in Hopewell Junction, N.Y., is also a solar cell company that was spun out of Intel in 2008. In June 2009, SpectraWatt received a $500,000 grant from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory as part of the stimulus package. SpectraWatt was one of 13 companies to receive the money to help develop ways to improve solar cells without changing current manufacturing processes.

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The company filed for bankruptcy last month, saying it could not compete with its Chinese competitors, which receive "considerable government and financial support."

On Tuesday, Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman wrote an editorial for "USA Today" in which he blamed China in part for the failure of U.S. solar energy manufacturers to compete.

"Winning will require substantial investments. Last year, for example, the China Development Bank offered more than $30 billion in financing to Chinese solar manufacturers, about 20 times more than U.S.-backed loans to solar manufacturers," Poneman wrote.

"Unfortunately, expanding production has coincided with short-term softening demand, a product of the banking crisis in Europe and its wider economic effects. The combination has had a dramatic effect on the price of solar cells, which has plummeted 42 percent in the past nine months. This has taken a serious toll on solar manufacturers everywhere, including the U.S," he continued.

On Thursday, White House spokesman Jay Carney noted that the U.S. is on track to double its renewable energy production in 2012, but it will require commitment in the U.S. to grow.

"We have a choice to make as a nation, because we will be buying renewable energy products, you know, whether it's wind, biofuel, solar, whether alternative -- rather, you know, advanced battery technology, we're going to be buying that stuff. Do we want to buy it with a stamp on it that says 'Made in America' or are we going to buy it from the Chinese or from other countries?" Carney asked.

"We have to be aggressive in competing in the global economy. And, you know, high-tech clean-energy industries are going to be key to winning this century economically."

But Republicans balk at claims that the Obama administration can decide which companies are winners or losers, and questioned a plan to approve $10 billion more in loans before the stimulus program expires.

"Solar panels have been subsidized by the federal government. States' governments are also subsidizing or giving taxpayers write-off on their tax return. And yet, these solar panels cannot make it in the competitive world without all these subsidies. And even with them, China is flooding the market with this cheap labor and the solar panels just don't make sense," House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns R-Fla., told Fox News.

"So I think the administration is on this fervent religion of green jobs and clinging to the idea that solar panel is the answer and it is not the answer," he said.

Another winner of stimulus who ultimately lost is Mountain Plaza Inc. Despite declaring bankruptcy in 2003, the company received $424,000 from the Tennessee Department of Transportation as part of a grant aimed at installing "truck stop electrification" systems that allow idling truckers to plug-in during extended stops and turn off their exhaust-belching, environment polluting diesel engines.

Mountain Plaza had filed for bankruptcy protection again in June 2010. TDOT, which received a $2 million stimulus grant from the Environmental Protection Agency for the project, said it didn't learn about the bankruptcy until October, but it is closely monitoring the project.

Elsewhere, Olsen's Crop Service and Olsen's Mills Acquisition Co. also failed despite Olsen's Mills receiving $10 million to increase employment, add equipment and machinery, refinance existing debts and work capital for operations and acquire land. The payout -- part of a $64 million package to nine rural businesses in Wisconsin for economic development loan assistance -- was delivered in January 2010, after Olsen's Mills filed for bankruptcy protection for defaulting on a $60 million bank loan.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/solyndra-not-sole-firm-to-hit-rock-bottom-despite-stimulus-funding

 Solyndra says needs more time to find buyers Reuters news organization, retrieved Sept 17th 2011

(Reuters) - Bankrupt solar panel maker Solyndra LLC said it needed more than the initially expected four weeks to find a buyer to take over its idled operations, which were funded with a controversial $535 million federal loan guarantee.

An FBI vehicle is pictured at the offices of U.S. solar start-up Solyndra in Fremont, California September 8, 2011. RETUERS/Poornima Gupta

Solyndra filed for bankruptcy this month with a plan to try to find a buyer by early October who could restart its recently shuttered factory and rehire some of its 1,000 staff.

Republican lawmakers have accused the Obama administration of ignoring signs of financial trouble at the company in its haste to grant the loan guarantee and participate in a groundbreaking of Solyndra’s federally backed factory in California.

The company said in documents filed late on Friday with Delaware’s bankruptcy court that it now proposes to accept bids until October 25, although it does not have an initial bidder.

If multiple bids qualify under its proposed guidelines, an auction will be held on October 28 at a San Francisco law office. The company plans to seek the approval of the bankruptcy court for the sale on November 2.

The company said it had hired investment bankers from Imperial Capital LLC and they had contacted 100 prospective buyers.

If the company fails to find a buyer who can restart its manufacturing, it has said it plans to liquidate the company’s equipment in a piecemeal sale.

Solyndra filed for bankruptcy on September 6, burdened with $783 million of secured debt and squeezed by falling prices for panels caused by an industry glut.

The Department of Energy guaranteed the $535 million loan to the company, which Solyndra has said may not be repaid in full.

The Solyndra debacle has also been fraught with accusations of political favoritism, as the company’s biggest shareholder — Argonaut Ventures — is backed by Obama fundraiser George Kaiser.

Solyndra’s offices were raided by the FBI two days after the company filed for bankruptcy, although the FBI did not say what prompted the raid.

The proposed auction procedures must be approved by the bankruptcy court.

The case is Solyndra LLC, Case No. 11-12799, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-solyndra/solyndra-says-needs-more-time-to-find-buyers-idUSTRE78F4SS20110917