Running head: SOLYNDRA 1
Solyndra
SOLYNDRA 2
Introduction
Solyndra was the darling of the green energy boom that President Obama heartily
supported. They manufactured solar panels that were different from any other solar panel,
cylindrical in design and made of different materials, which allowed them to be thinner than the
other solar panels. The company reaped the benefits of being a solar panel manufacturing by
taking advantage of loans and tax breaks offered by both the Federal and California
governments.
In 2010, President Obama visited the Solyndra plant highly encouraging others in the use
of green energy alternatives. Stating that it was the wave of the future and would add many jobs
to the then sagging economy. In September, 2011, a bit over a year after President Obama’s visit
to the solar panel manufacturer, they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and laid off over a thousand
employees. Shortly after declaring bankruptcy, Solyndra offices and the home of their current
CEO were raided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They went under a Congressional
investigation for possible fraud as well as being sued by former employees for not giving due
notification of closure.
Solyndra’s Background
Dr. Christian Gronet founded the Fremont, California based company Solyndra in 2005
and was Chief Executive Officer until 2010. Solyndra was a bit different than most solar panel
manufacturing companies in that it used a design that was cylindrical and used copper, indium,
and galliumdiselenide (CIGS) as opposed to polysilicon cells that were generally used in
production of a solar panel. Manufacturing their solar panels out of CIGS had an advantage
when the company was first started, the price for this material was $80/ kg. in 2008, where
SOLYNDRA 3
polysilicon was approximately $400/ kg[CITATION RCo11 \l 1033 ]. The relatively low price
of CIGS plus $78 million in outside investments from several investors, which included the
Walton family and George Kaiser, got the company off to a good start in 2006.
Looking to build a new manufacturing facility, in December 2006, Solyndra applied for a
loan through the Department of Energy in an attempt to take advantage of the recently enacted
Energy Policy Act of 2005. The application process took forever, so in 2008 Solyndra managed
to raise an additional $144 million in private investments. In January of 2009, the Department of
Energy tried to push the loan through the Office of Management and Budget’s review process,
the application was found to be insufficient and was sent back to the Department of Energy for
review, essentially rejecting the application[CITATION Hay11 \l 1033 ].
In September, 2009, thanks to President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment
