Solyndra had its offices raided last week by federal agents as part of an ongoing investigation into their bankruptcy and federal loan guarantees they'd received from the Department of Energy. Some critics have cried foul, trying to show how federal money spent on emerging technology is a waste. Others have tried to disparage solar energy itself, trying to show the industry is not ready for prime time. In fact, these allegations couldn't be further from the truth.
However, it does bring up important questions about the Obama administration, ethics, and the influence of campaign contributions. This is entirely a self-inflicted wound, a bone-headed mistake if not an ethical problem, and is the type of landmine the White House needs to avoid. There is another, similar trap they need to avoid touching in the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, where Big Oil's big money tendrils and the revolving door are even more frightening than those from Solyndra.
The first charge against Solyndra is the wastefulness of the federal loan guarantees that it received and the loan guarantee program in general. Well, if solar was the only industry getting this aid, that might be something. But given the incredibly large amounts given in federal subsidies to fossil fuels compared to solar, that is not the case. Indeed, direct subsidies for nuclear in recent energy legislation adds up to over 13 billion (that's with a b, kids) and recent loan guarantees for nuclear construction are over $60 billion, $18 billion of which have already been allocated in Georgia. This amounts to a preemptive bailout of the nuclear industry, especially since the CBO estimates those loans will have a 50% default rate.
Other critics have gone after Solyndra because they say solar isn't ready for prime time -- while, in fact, it shows the opposite. Solyndra was pioneering a new method of making photovoltaic cells and got buried under the onslaught of cheap solar imports from China. Their process, which you can see in this video, courtesy of BusinessWire, is very different from traditional photvoltaic arrays.
Their technology just didn't get cheap quickly enough compared to traditional PV manufacturing, largely from Chinese imports. But in the silver lining to that otherwise not as nice cloud, those same cheap Chinese imports have meant a huge boon to American manufacturing who provide many of the materials and heavy equipment needed to manufacture PV.
Meanwhile, because of that change, solar has reached grid parity in terms of its costs. Grid parity means that the cost of producing electricity through a pv cell is less than or equal to the average cost of electricity. Other companies are making huge solar breakthroughs. Solyndra, unfortunately, was not one of them. But this is market economics, and this is what we expect, nay, desire from our entrepreneurs.
Meanwhile, the Department of Energy, undeterred, has announced two more loan guarantee programs for solar innovation. Meanwhile, the Department of Defense is getting on the solar train, too, with a Solar City program that will provide clean energy to the homes of 160,000 of our troops and their families. I can't think of a better way to commemorate 9/11 than with true energy independence being given to some of the most deserving among us. Now, let's just do it for all of our military, veterans, firefighters, police officers, teachers, and other public servants. But 160,000 homes to start with is pretty darn nice.
But why Solyndra is troublesome is because it appears undue influence may have been exerted to get them these loan guarantees. One of Solyndra's top investors was also a bundler for the Obama campaign responsible for tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations. A commitment to the highest ethical standards that the Obama Administration guaranteed when they took office meant they should have done extra due diligence on giving any loan guarantees to anyone with any sort of money connection to the White House. Every i dotted, every t crossed -- special treatment, but special treatment to insure they weren't receiving funds because of political donations. Indeed, they should have been held to a much higher standard than their peers.
This is an entirely self-inflicted wound on the part of the Obama Administration. It should have been avoided, and questions not only the ethics of those in charge but the rationality. Surely they should have seen this coming.
If they didn't, here's a warning sign for you: Keystone XL. The pipeline, proposed by Canadian company Transcanada would bring the world's dirtiest oil from the Alberta tar sands to refineries in the Houston area along the Texas Gulf Coast. They are currently doing their best to get the pipeline approved, including a slick PR campaign, push-polling in areas around where the pipeline would be and promising jobs if the pipeline is built, and using Washington's revolving door of lobbyists, staff, and political consultants. Dirty money, dirty campaign, dirty tactics, dirty ethics. In fact, knowing that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would be the final decider on whether the State Department issues the permit or not, Transcanada hired her former campaign operative Paul Elliot to be their chief lobbyist, among other hires with ties to the Obama campaign and administration.
Clinton and Obama approving Keystone XL would be another avoidable landmine for the White House. Unfortunately, this landmine has much more dire consequences if approved, as it would signal both Business as Usual in Washington with Big Oil getting their way, the end of any veneer of ethics or being serious about campaign finance by the Obama Administration, and... oh, "game over" for the planet because of runaway climate change. More on this later.
Follow Andy Wilson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CitizenAndy
David Fenton: Solar Through the Looking Glass
bit.ly/SolyndraFacebookFail
Chinese Protesters Accuse Solar Panel Plant of Pollution
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/19/world/asia/chinese-protesters-accuse-solar-panel-plant-of-pollution.html
This is why China can make solar panels at 25% of the cost of being produced in the United States.
We need to band together and lobby to protect local solar from product dumping by China.
Unfortunately the present class of elitists very much depends on a dirty energy foundation and are doing everything within their power to slow down the development of clean energy. For them the profit motive has put them where they are and they will defend its glory until their last breath because it is has given them their glory days for over 100 years.
The fact of the matter is that it is our God-given duty to protect and preserve the environment. God has given us the intelligence to develop these less invasive means of creating energy, yet the elitists refuse to change their ways. They will be held accountable for their atrocities against nature and mankind. They will face very heavy consequences for their negligence to protect and preserve our vital resources. They may be enjoying their glory days now but many many years of intense suffering awaits them due to their disregard of the greater good in favor of the profit motive.
Solyandra installed 100MW of solar for 500M$ in loans.
That's a good deal.
50% of nuclear power plants default on their loans, but we keep subsidizing them.
That's criminal.
Comparing money given to solar with nucular is kinda dumb though since most renewables will not in anyway replace nuclear. Nuclear is used as base power which provides the min power that people need every day. Nuclear even with its problems is still by far the cleanest form of cheap power and I wish we would invest more in developing it better. Thorium technology looks like it could be a good option.
Just on a seperate note untill battery tec gets better wind power is usless on a grid and can make it unstable. It is not good at either base or peak power solar is a much better long term option.
To the tune of ”where has all the flowers gone"
Where have all those Green Jobs gone, long time in the making,
Where have all those Green Jobs gone, long time ago.....
Where have all those Green Companies gone, gone into bankruptcy everyone,
When will they ever learn,.... when will they ever learn....
Where have all the Windmills gone, long time in the making,
Where have all the Windmills gone, so long ago,
Where have all those Windmill Workers gone,,,, gone to welfare lines everywhere. When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn....
Where have all the Solar Panels gone, decades in the making..
Where have all the Solar Companies gone, with all that money loaned..
Where has all that Wasted Money gone, re-electing Democrats everyone..
and down the toilet it has gone, down the toilet…..it has gone.
AJSP
Its going to be Who Did What and when did he do it! Fitting!
Solyndra was an example of what happens when the government tries picking SPECIFIC COMPANIES. All oil companies have access to the TransCanada pipeline and can still compete against each other. American consumers have the cheapest oil in the world (WTI) but have to pay higher prices for lower quality BRENT (based in Europe) because of a lack of pipeline capacity.
And it has to do with keystone in that there are worries on both accounts of undue influence from lobbyists.
All I hear are crickets chirping...
Fanned !