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by brendoelfrendo 1992 days ago
I'm not sure your point in bringing up Solyndra; with that notable exception, the fed's investments in renewables turned a decent profit. It's actually a problem, in hindsight: the program was supposed to take risks on innovative ideas and companies that would be difficult to find via traditional channels, but Solyndra had such a chilling effect that the DOE stopped taking those risks.
1 comments
save_ferris 1992 days ago
Yeah, I meant to add the caveat that it was one of the most publicly notable government energy investments for the simple fact that it ended up in scandal, since many aren't even aware that the government invests in companies like this. I wasn't trying to criticize the initiative.

> Solyndra had such a chilling effect that the DOE stopped taking those risks.

It's frustrating to see that a private company's bad behavior wound up being a stain for the government like this.

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Pulcinella 1992 days ago
Was it even bad behavior? I recall that there were allegations at the time that Chinese business were dumping solar panels onto the market and that meant Solyndra couldn’t compete. Though I’ve also found some news sources saying that the high prices for polysilicon caused a bunch of players to enter the market to produce it, causing prices of poly silicon to crash and Solyndra couldn’t compete. Either way it seems to be bad luck unless the CEO and board knew those were huge risks and intentionally downplayed them.

Edit: It just seems unclear to be what the supposed fraud was.

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dnautics 1992 days ago
> It's frustrating to see that a private company's bad behavior wound up being a stain for the government like this.

Do not be confused into thinking there was no government collusion. Not only was solyndra a cesspool of revolving door players, it definitely knew how to play the government contracting game. I used to deliver food for ill low income housing clients and on one complex I visited saw old solyndra tube on top of the building. Someone had to look at this project and see it as a cost plus opportunity for an unrelated and unnecessary product; and now that housing block is saddled with unsupported infrastructure. Who is going to pay to remove those solyndra panels and put some other solar system up there?

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brendoelfrendo 1992 days ago
> It's frustrating to see that a private company's bad behavior wound up being a stain for the government like this.

Definitely! Sorry if I came across as defensive, I'm just used to people using Solyndra to criticize the whole program. On the whole, the DOE made a big impact. It's just disappointing that one bad actor reduced that impact by turning into a political hot potato.

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save_ferris 1992 days ago
Not at all! Nothing to apologize for, I remember when that whole situation blew up very well. And I completely agree with you.
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