Taxpayer-backed solar firm faces layoffs, shakeup just months after opening

[Phurfur 70]

When Solyndra went bankrupt and cost taxpayers up to $530 million, the Obama administration's green energy loan program was subjected to congressional hearings and became an election-year issue. Now, another solar panel company may be headed for a similar fate.

 

SoloPower, which makes thin-film solar panels at a new plant in Portland, Ore., opened Sept. 27 with an upbeat ribbon-cutting ceremony. Local and state politicians gushed about the company eventually operating four production lines and creating 450 well-paid green jobs.

 

Just a few months later, those predictions, and SoloPower's future, are on shaky ground.

 

The first production line was never completed. In January, the company had a round of layoffs. SoloPower won't say how many of its 60 employees received pink slips.

 

A management shakeup soon followed -- gone are the chief executive, president and chief technology officer. The company is now trying to raise money by selling some of its equipment through a third party and is attempting to restructure its $197 million federal loan guarantee.

 

 

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/03/20/taxpayer-backed-solar-firm-faces-layoffs-shakeup-amid-calls-for-more-government/#ixzz2O8Llfo8S