Solyndra Secures $535M in Federal Loan Guarantees

Hi Ucilia—Great post. This is great news for Solyndra, but also for the renewable energy market as a whole as it sees government money making its way into the industry. It?s clear that the stimulus package has put federal grant programs in the spotlight as a critical resource for rebuilding our economy due to the sheer amount being invested by our government. This increased visibility for federal grant programs increases the amount of scrutiny the various grant application processes are going to receive, to ensure that these government funds are being given to the most deserving candidates. It also increases the demand for accountability measures to be put in place to ensure that the projects that receive federal funding perform as intended and are held fiscally accountable

This means that, not only will there be more scrutiny in the grant selection process, but there will be more scrutiny after the fact to ensure that the money is being utilized properly. Prior to awarding grants, government agencies will have more extensive internal control systems and performance measures to facilitate grant management. Agencies will then have more in-depth processes for managing performance once grants are awarded, and the ability to assess grant results and use those results when awarding future grants.

So what does this mean for those applying for energy grants in particular?

I would argue that these new policies and requirements will make energy monitoring and management solution a must-have in order to secure funding for energy project. How can you hold anyone accountable for a project if you have no way to monitor, measure and manage the project?s performance?

That is precisely where open energy monitoring and management solutions like Fat Spaniel ? http://www.fatspaniel.com ? come in (disclaimer, I work with them). Our solutions provide the visibility needed to have complete, actionable insight into an entire energy system ? providing the key accountability data that government agencies will need to see in order to fund projects. Granted, I?m not claiming that energy monitoring solutions will guarantee funding for projects. But in this economic climate, it is no longer enough just to be green. You must show that your renewable energy systems can strike a balance between eco responsibility and fiscal responsibility.

Indeed, this is great news for Solyndra executives and some of their employees, but it is not good news for renewable energy.  It is but another example of money being thrown at a bad idea that will never compete.  Solyndra fooled a lot of investors, and now they will squander government money.  Some renewables ideas have merit.  Most don?t.  This is one that clearly doesn?t.  The best recent study on costs of PV is that from Lawrence Berkeley National Labs, Tracking the Sun, Feb 2009.  It shows thin film PV has been more expensive in residential installations than conventional PV.  Our analysis shows the Solyndra approach will be much more expensive than some other thin film options. Take a look at the analysis on the PV page under Alternatives on the windfuels site.

FDDoty you are right.  I´m amazed that there are number of workable manufacturing lines with proven technologies (Optisolar) that are foreclosing.  Meanwhile the US government is underwriting a company with no track record, no substantive demonstration of energy production improvements, and a lot of hot air.

Solyndra would have succeeded without this. Imagine how many startups could have been funded with this money. There are thousands of startups out there with great ideas to solve the energy crisis. By giving this money to one company, no only is the government not helping 1000+ startup companies, they could actually be hurting them by solidifying leaders in the market without giving the smaller companies a chance.

Solyndra would have succeeded without this. Imagine how many startups could have been funded with this money. There are thousands of startups out there with great ideas to solve the energy crisis. By giving this money to one company, no only is the government not helping 1000+ startup companies, they could actually be hurting them by solidifying leaders in the market without giving the smaller companies a chance.

FDDoty;  How do you know Solyndra won’t succeed?  Do you know their production cost structure?  Do you know their power production stats from any of their multiple install?  Please share or admit you know nothing…

Uci, very interesting that Solyndra was the first to be offered the guarantee…  The information we don’t know about Solyndra was certainly provided to attain this guarantee.  They were competing with some big names for these dollars…

You?re right that Solyndra has been quite secretive. But there has been a lot published in their pending patent applications over the past two years and elsewhere.  I?ve tried to piece together what I could, from the perspective of someone with a lifetime of relevant, manufacturing and R&D experience.  Take at look under the PV page under alternatives on our windfuels website.  I don?t see any way Solyndra will come within a factor of two of competing ? probably more like a factor of 3.  I?ll quickly update my comments when they make more information publicly available.

I’m sure the Solyndra approach has its merits.
But if you dig a bit deeper into some of their financials you’ll find that Solyndra has spent millions on lobbyists.  And that’s a better way of getting money out of DC than conversion efficiency.