Solyndra was a manufacturer of solar panels. It was founded in 2005, and was shut down in 2011 due to bankruptcy. It was based in California.
Before going bankrupt, Solyndra received a $535 million loan from the US government through the United States Energy Department for the Solyndra Restructuring plan. According to BloombergBusinessweek, “the government might get little to nothing for its $528 million claim from the loan guarantee. The government is projected to recoup at most 19 percent on $142.8 million of the loan and probably nothing on the remaining $385 million”.
The Obama administration came under a lot scrutiny for this loan given to Solyndra. Many questions where asked about why the administration would allow such a huge loan to a company whose downfall was already foreseen and Obama himself was subject to much criticism. Obama responded to criticism on October 6th 2012 by saying, “this is a loan guarantee program that predates me that historically has had support from Democrats and Republicans as well. And the idea is pretty straightforward: If we are going to be able to compete in the 21st century, then we have got to dominate cutting-edge technologies, we have got to dominate cutting-edge manufacturing.” Also when asked about the Obama Administration’s clean energy policy and the loan to Solyndra in an interview in February 2012, David Axelrod (Obama’s chief strategist) said that the clean energy program is, “good for the planet, it’s good for the economy, it’ll create great jobs…high end manufacturing jobs. This is going to continue being a thrust for us.”
On the 31st of August 2011, Solyndra announced that it would be shutting down and filing for bankruptcy. This news came as a shock to it’s more than 1,000 employees who were left jobless. This decision came up on August 30th 2011 during a board meeting when board members couldn’t decided how much more funds to add to the budget, leaving Solyndra literally broken.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-09-07/solyndra-wins-court-leave-to-seek-vote-on-bankruptcy-plan
http://www.recovery.gov/Transparency/RecoveryData/Pages/Recipient.aspx?duns=610713286
http://www.baycitizen.org/jobs/story/solyndra-shutdown-stimulus-green-jobs/