Sun Goes Down on Solyndra as Company Announces Shut Down and Bankruptcy

Solyndra a California-based solar panel manufacturer announced that it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company is ceasing operations and will immediately lay off all of its 1,100 employees. The company had received more than $1.6 billion in federal and private funding in recent years.

Critical observers had noted that Solyndra’s solar tubes were still about two or three times as expensive as the standard costs for solar manufacturers in the United States. Solyndra said that it had experienced growth in the first half of 2011 and had secured a number of orders for large commercial rooftops in North America. The company claims that it could not "achieve full-scale operations rapidly enough to compete in the near term with the resources of larger foreign manufacturers." The company added that a global oversupply of solar panels, falling prices and uncertainty in markets such as Europe led to its decision to cease operations.

"This was an unexpected outcome and is most unfortunate," said Brian Harrison, Solyndra’s President and Chief Executive Officer.

"We have always recognized that not every one of the innovative companies supported by our loans and loan guarantees would succeed," said Dan Leistikow, a spokesman for the Department of Energy. "But we can’t stop investing in game-changing technologies that are key to America’s leadership in the global economy."