How to be awarded and then lose $535M

yep

watched that... funny stuff.

Now it's being reported that Solydra sought a second loan from the feds to the tune of $469 million which, when added to the first, would've amounted to over $1,000,000,000 in taxpayer financing... all for a company that was bleeding copious amounts of red ink and was lurching toward a nearly pre-ordained bankruptcy.

The Daily Caller discovered this info in Solyndra's SEC filing. The filing doesn't make clear whether Solyndra got this second loan and DC's subsequent inquiry was not responded to.

http://dailycaller.com/2011/09/16/d...nd-government-loan-guarantee-for-469-million/
 
The board is set, the pieces are in motion

In the big picture, looking at the advancement of the technology of course, the Chinese government just gave $713 Million to LDK Solar last week. The total investment for the year I've seen quoted so far is over $30 Billion for solar alone. These investments have led to massive price declines and with current prices around $1/watt in solar is now a reality. I'm now in the position of considering a home PV system. This of course has come at the expense of all other manufacturers not located in China. At the current growth rate, the Chinese solar industry will be a $1 Trillion industry by the end of 2014. I have yet to see (or hear) what chunk the US is projected to import.
 
What with the increased...

pressure to exploit shale and sand reserves for both oil and gas, it seems that the incentives at the homeowner level for PV could be muted over the next ten years or so. The gas issue especially could result in more power generation via that fuel and I believe it is generally a very competitive technology. In the absence of any carbon tax or cap and trade there doesn't seem much reason for the power generators to not burn NG.
Do you know anything about the forecasts on this issue?
 
Yes, the configuration of their design was the charm. I think I covered the advantage of the design in a previous post. Interestingly, this morning I came across a news article from Rep. D. Issa, who cited a report from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Citing competition from China, Issa said "It is reasonable to predict that we could have the collapse of the entire solar panel manufacturing business in America." We went from around 50,000 workers in the actual manufacturing area in 2009 to over 100,000 today. So, is it time to begin protecting our home grown industries yet?
 
Let's admit...

that the whole thing is a fiasco of the very first water.

Let's try to imagine that the original intent to support a new technology on American soil is wrongheaded but not in any way criminal in and of itself.

Let's accept that the pressure(whatever it may have been) to float this loan was a major, perhaps politically fatal error, on Obama's part and may have some taint of criminality about it.

Now, let's talk money- $528M is about 2 days worth of operations in Afghanistan, whose worth to the nation at this point, is at least as debatable as the possible worth of supporting a fledging domestic industry. The great difference here is that 1) I don't see the same level of animus directed at Obama for continuing this waste of money 2) the operations in Af-Pak are most certainly going to extend for more than two more days.
 
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