Solyndra's Bankruptcy Has The Solar Industry Against The Ropes

After the news of Solyndra's bankruptcy broke on Wednesday, the question that everyone was asking as, how the hell did that happen? The

quite correctly also asked the question today of what this collapse will mean to the solar panel industry. The Fremont, CA-based Solyndra certainly seemed to be in good shape when it raised more than $1 billion in private equity, won a $535 million loan guarantee from the federal government , and then built a 1 million square foot factory, employing 1,100 workers. Apparently not. The SFBT quotes Alain Harrus, a venture capitalist with Crosslink Capital, who says that Solyndra's demise was ultimately inevitable. “The price decrease in modules has been so severe -- so drastic, from the get-go, when Solyndra got started it made sense economically, but in last year and a half it was completely upside down.” Back in May of last year, President Obama visited the Solyndra facility and gave a speech outlining his vision for alternative energy. These new developments could be seen as mildly embarrassing for him, to say the least. Still, his intentions were just. In that speech, the President said that, “The promise of clean energy isn't just an article of faith, it's not just some abstract possibility for science fiction movies or a distant future or 10 years down the road or 20 years, it's happening right now. The future is here.” Sadly, particularly for 1,100 Solyndra employees that have been dismissed with no layoff packages, the future might have to wait a little longer.