The Solyndra aftermath
Steve Chiotakis: Executives for bankrupt solar company Solyndra plan to testify before Congress this week. That’s not likely to clear up confusion, though, over the company’s assets and contracts.
From the Marketplace Sustainability Desk, Eve Troeh reports.
Eve Troeh: Solyndra didn’t sell solar equipment directly to consumers. It had contracts with developers, who installed Solyndra panels for Coca-Cola, Frito-Lay and other clients.
Those clients won’t lose any power, says analyst Shayle Kahn at GTM research. But if something goes wrong?
Shayle Kahn: These panels presumably had either a 20- or 25-year warranty on them. Now that seems to be invalid.
Kahn says banks will look more closely at solar business models.
Kahn: Is the technology going to last as expected for 20 years, and will the company be around for 20 years to honor the warranty?
At IDC Energy Insights, analyst Sam Jaffe says the government isn’t likely to get its money back from Solyndra — much of the loan money went toward a state-of-the-art factory.
Sam Jaffe: It was valuable to Solyndra, but it’s probably not valuable to anybody else.
He says the factory is so specific, it’s useless unless you want to copy Solyndra’s product. Jaffe says, it’ll likely sell…
Jaffe: For scrap metal prices.
I’m Eve Troeh for Marketplace.
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