The Top Five Cleantech Stories of 2011, Part III

By Denny Wong

Finally, we come to the number one cleantech story of 2011. And the honor goes to - drum roll, please - Solyndra. If you did not follow this story in 2011, don’t worry. You will have plenty of opportunities to do so in 2012. Solyndra is a story that will continue to be in the news until at least the presidential elections in November.

Solyndra is the manufacturer of industrial solar panels that filed for bankruptcy protection in early September of 2011. Since the company had a $535 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy, the bankruptcy filing means that taxpayers are the ones who will have to repay most, if not all, of the guaranteed loan.

Solyndra’s original application to participate in the Department of Energy’s loan guarantee program was denied in January of 2009, before President Obama formally took office. The reason given for the denial was that there were “several areas where the information presented did not thoroughly support a finding that the project is ready to be approved at this time.” The application was returned, without prejudice, “for further development of information.” In March of 2009, however, shortly after President Obama took office, the Department of Energy made a conditional commitment to guarantee a $535 million loan that would enable the company to construct a solar panel manufacturing facility. In 2010, as construction of the facility neared completion, President Obama made a highly publicized visit to the company to tout it as an example of the new green economy. A little more than a year after the visit, the company announced that it was filing for bankruptcy protection. When Solyndra’s executives were summoned to appear before a Congressional committee investigating what happened, they repeatedly invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to avoid answering questions that were put to them.

Critics of the current administration note that several of the company’s shareholders and executives made substantial contributions to President Obama’s campaign, that the company had spent a large sum of money lobbying, and that the company’s executives had many meetings with White House officials. Moreover, they note that a number of President Obama’s own advisors had serious doubts about the financial viability of Solyndra, even as he was holding it up as a shining example of his energy policies.

All of this provides plenty of fodder for the President’s critics. In fact, just a few days ago former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, to make the point that he would be a better steward of the economy, contrasted his purported successes as a venture capitalist with “the President’s investment in Solyndra.” There will be more of that to come once the Republicans pick their presidential candidate and the two parties truly join battle.

While the Solyndra story alone will not decide the 2012 presidential election, it will receive more than a few mentions in the upcoming presidential debates. Because of this, we have chosen it as the number one cleantech story of 2011.