Fremont solar tech firm
Solyndra to shut down,
lay off hundreds of
workers
Mercury News
Posted: 08/31/2011 08:48:12 AM PDT
Updated: 08/31/2011 09:15:14 AM PDT
Solyndra, a Fremont solar tech manufacturer,
announced Wednesday it is suspending operations
and immediately laying off 1,100 employees. The
company said it will also file for bankruptcy.
"Despite strong growth in the first half of 2011 and
traction in North America with a number of orders
for very large commercial rooftops, Solyndra could
not achieve full-scale operations rapidly enough to
compete in the near term with the resources of
larger foreign manufacturers," the company said in a
statement.
The company said it plans to file for Chapter 11
bankruptcy while it evaluates options, which include
a sale and licensing of its technology.
Solyndra was founded in 2005 by Chris Gronet, who
earned his Ph.D. at Stanford University and veteran
of Applied Materials.
President Barack Obama held it up as a poster child
for clean energy, saying during a 2010 visit to its
headquarters that "companies like Solyndra are
leading the way toward a brighter and more
prosperous future."
Despite having raised more than $1 billion in
venture capital and receiving a $535 million loan
guarantee from the Department of Energy, Solyndra
struggled. One reason for its woes is that low-cost
Chinese manufacturers are building massive
factories that have rapidly driven down the price of
solar panels and shifted more than 50 percent of
production to China.
"Despite strong growth in the first half of 2011 and traction in North America with a number of orders for very large commercial
rooftops, Solyndra could not achieve full-scale
operations rapidly enough to compete in the near
term with the resources of larger foreign
manufacturers," the company statement says.
