Bay Area solar manufacturer Solyndra on Wednesday announced it is was shutting its doors and laying off all its 1,100 workers. Solyndra had been visited by Vice President Joe Bidden, Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and President Barrack Obama. The Daily Caller reported, “Solyndra also spent $550,000 lobbying Congress in 2010. Between 2008 and 2011, the company spent more than $1 million lobbying for bills including the “American Clean Energy Leadership Act of 2009″ and the “Solar Manufacturing Jobs Creation Act.”Despite Solyndra’s recent bankruptcy announcement, the Department of Energy and the White House insist the investment was not in vain. “The project that we supported succeeded,” a spokesman for the Department of Energy told The New York Times. “The facility was producing the product it said it would produce, and consumers were buying the product,” he said. “The company struggled because the market has changed dramatically.” “While we are disappointed by this particular outcome, we continue to believe the clean-energy jobs race is one that America can, must and will win,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said today in an emailed statement.
NPR reports, The Department of Energy notes that the federal loan guarantee “was pursued by both the Bush and Obama administrations.” And, DOE spokesman Dan Leistikow wrote Wednesday, “we have always recognized that not every one of the innovative companies supported by our loans and loan guarantees would succeed, but we can’t stop investing in game-changing technologies that are key to America’s leadership in the global economy. These projects, which include more than 40 other companies, are on pace to create more than 60,000 jobs.”
Solar remains the fastest growing industry in the US and opportunities for alternative energy are fluid; including developments in spray on solar and some recent advancements in Graphene and Carbon Nanotube technology.
Daryl Hannah Arrested at White House
