Top Energy Stories of 2011: #1) The Solyndra Loan Scandal

By Keith Heyde

Although it’s a little delayed (my apologies) it is time to announce the top energy story of 2011!

Unfortunately, it’s a story with little to be excited about.

We’ve sure you’ve heard about it, we sure you’re probably sick of it, but the top energy story of 2011 is none other than the Solyndra loan controversy.

Solyndra is a company based out of Fremont, California that specialized in the production of cylindrical solar CIGS energy components. CIGS stands for the type of fuel cells (copper-indium-gallium-diselenide). These solar CIGS systems originally started an alternative and initially lower cost option to traditionally silicon PV solar energy cells.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with solar CIGS technology, it very similarly to traditional silicon PV cells.  Simply, when the sun hits the CIGS cells it establishes an electron flow that runs down through the cell and into a converter. This process creates electricity accordingly.

However, the technology was not the issue of news when it came to Solyndra. Rather, it was the controversy surrounding the $ 535 million dollar loan guarantee issued by the United State’s federal government that caught the media’s eye.

For what it’s worth, the timing was not ideal for Solyndra. Recently, Silicon prices have been plummeting. With advances in processing technology coupled with the blossoming of the Chinese silicon PV manufacturing market, the cost for traditional silicon based PV cells has dropped significantly. This places a heavy economic strain on Solyndra.

However, the controversy did not eminate within the market conditions as much as it did within the questionable ‘blind eye’ from the White House and the Energy Department. These two government bodies were charged with inspecting the loan guarantee on Solyndra and have been accused of ignoring due diligence.

Furthermore, questionable relationships have surfaces between Solyndra executives and owners as well as key players within the Obama administration.

All of these issues reached fruition in September of 2011 when Solyndra filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. Coupled with an FBI investigation soon after, the controversy spurned a vigorous re-evaluation on many of the ‘green funding’ projects the federal government is encouraging.

Nonetheless, interest in alternative energy has, for the most part, not decreased as a consequence of the Solyndra scandal. Although pundits have advocated the scandal solidifies accusations of superfluous spending associated with alternative energy, for the most part PV and wind technologies have thrived over the course of 2011.

In fact, recent research has indicated that if anything alternative energy investment is accelerating. Both private and public investors are reaping the benefit of putting money into alternative energy.

It is inevitable that scandals will occur, investments will fail, bankruptcies will ensue, and projects will fail. This is the case with any industry. Solyndra showed us that alternative energy is human. It is not the ‘energy on the hill’ and it is not a perfect alternative to the coal and petrol establishment. However, through the implementation of diligent and progressive investment practices hopefully a sustainable, exciting, and rich energy future awaits.