By Yuliya Chernova
As we watch U.S. solar start-ups go up in flames, it’s easy to blame China. On Thursday, in light of the federal investigation into now-bankrupt Solyndra, Reps. Henry Waxman (D., CA) and Diana DeGette (D., CO) asked the House Committee to examine whether heavily subsidized Chinese solar companies are skewing the market, and making it impossible for U.S. manufacturers to compete.
- Reuters
- Solyndra President and Chief Executive Brian Harrison (L) and Chief Financial Officer W.G. Stover are sworn in before a House investigation panel on Friday.
And in Congressional testimony a week earlier, Jonathan Silver, head of the loan guarantee program that approved a $535 million loan Solyndra, said that even as Solyndra’s sales floundered, four Chinese competitors benefited from $20 billion in government support and “flooded the market with inexpensive panels.”
But with more than $1 billion in venture capital, plus the $535 million loan, Solyndra wasn’t exactly lacking in the financing department. It’s clear that its business model was deeply flawed, no matter the competition. “The company’s investors believed it would win, and the loan guarantee program did its job in enabling the company to scale operations, and providing the opportunity for the company to prove its technology a competitive option; failure to do so was the fault of Solyndra alone,” wrote Lux Research Analyst Matt Feinstein in a new report.
Read more at The Wall Street Journal
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