The following is the press release from 2009 announcing the $535 million bad loan made through the DOE and on the insistence of Barrack Obama to Solyndra, Inc., the now bankrupt “Green Energy” company. Of course the money come from the good old clueless American taxpayer. Pay particular attention to the last paragraph noting that the loan was made after a “thorough investigation and analysis of the project’s financial, technical and legal strengths.”
Now note that the Treasury Inspector General has now opened a probe into this Obama’s Solargate. Per the AP, “A spokesman said Thursday that the inspector general is reviewing the role and actions of the Federal Financing Bank, a government corporation supervised by the Treasury Department. The bank provided the low-interest loan to the Fremont, Calif.-based company.” The “concern” is that Obama has pushed levers to get the investment in a venture controlled by a “friend”, George Kaiser, a documented Obama “bundler”, on a fasttrack, with the White House Office Of Management Supervision urging the DOE to release the funds without proper diligence. “The House energy committee released documents Wednesday that appeared to show senior staff at the White House Office of Management and Budget chafing about having to conduct “rushed approvals” of a loan guarantee for Solyndra. Republican members of the committee said the emails raised questions about whether the loan was rushed to accommodate a Solyndra groundbreaking ceremony in September 2009 that featured Vice President Joe Biden and Energy Secretary Steven Chu.”
Wake up Obama supporters. This guy is rotten.
Solyndra Offered $535 Million Loan Guarantee by the U.S. Department of Energy
Fremont, CA, March 20, 2009 â?? Solyndra, Inc. announced today that it is the first company to receive an offer for a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantee under Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Solyndra, a Fremont, California-based manufacturer of innovative cylindrical photovoltaic systems, will use the proceeds of a $535 million loan from the U.S. Treasuryâ??s Federal Financing Bank to expand its solar panel manufacturing capacity in California.
â??The leadership and actions of President Barack Obama, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and the U.S. Congress were instrumental in concluding this offer for a loan guarantee,â?? said Solyndra CEO and founder, Dr. Chris Gronet. â??The DOE Loan Guarantee Program funding will enable Solyndra to achieve the economies of scale needed to deliver solar electricity at prices that are competitive with utility rates. This expansion is really about creating new jobs while meaningfully impacting global warming.â??
Designed specifically for commercial, industrial and institutional rooftops, Solyndraâ??s proprietary photovoltaic (PV) systems generate significantly more solar electricity per rooftop at a lower installed cost than conventional flat panel PV technologies. Further, Solyndraâ??s PV systems are fast and economical to install due to the simple horizontal mounting and unique air-flow properties of the solar panels. Solyndraâ??s panels are fully certified for U.S. and international use and have been commercially shipping since July 2008.
The guaranteed loan, expected to provide debt financing for approximately 73% of the project costs, will allow Solyndra to initiate construction of a second solar panel fabrication facility (Fab 2) in California. On completion, Fab 2 is expected to have an annual manufacturing capacity of 500 megawatts per year. Solyndra and DOE will finalize the transaction upon completion of definitive documentation and satisfaction of certain conditions precedent. Over the life of the project, Solyndra estimates that Fab 2 will produce solar panels sufficient to generate up to 15 gigawatts of clean, renewable electricityâ??enough to avoid 300 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Further, Solyndra estimates that the construction of this complex will employ approximately 3,000 people, the operation of the facility will create over 1,000 jobs, and hundreds of additional jobs will be created for the installation of Solyndra PV systems, in the U.S.
â??DOE, in consultation with independent consultants, performed a thorough investigation and analysis of our projectâ??s financial, technical and legal strengths,â?? said Dr. Kelly Truman, Solyndraâ??s Vice President of Marketing, Sales and Business Development. â??We are proud to be the first company to pass this comprehensive review, and we would like to acknowledge the exceptional efforts of the staff of the DOE Loan Guarantee Program Office.â??
Goldman, Sachs & Co. acted as exclusive financial advisor to Solyndra in connection with this loan guarantee application.
Anywhere you look… Goldman has already been there.
And in tangential news, attached is the just filed engagement letter with which a bankrupt Solyndra will retain Imperial Capital at the cost of $150,000 per month (this is cash that is immediately leaving the estate, thus minimizing recoveries to US taxpayers), a $1 million confirmation fee, a $1 million sale fee (the two are not exclusive), a 1%/3%/5% financing fee (i.e., Imperial arranges follow through financing, although good luck with that), and so on. In other news, should this bankruptcy stretch for more than the usual 1 year period from filing to emergence, US taxpayers will be on the hook for another roughly $3 million, in order to hire a banker whose ultimate value added will be an “orderly” liquidation of the company.