Solyndra was a manufacturer of cylindrical panels of copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) thin film solar cells.

[1] Heavily promoted as a leader in the sustainable energy sector for its unusual technology, Solyndra was not able to compete with conventional solar panel manufacturers of crystalline silicon.

The company reported deploying 14 systems that were each instrumented with sensitive radiation, wind speed, temperature, and humidity measurement devices to aid in the development of energy yield forecasting software tools.

[11][12] Additionally, Solyndra received a $25.1 million tax break from California's Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority.

[14] Following the company's 2011 bankruptcy, the government had expected to recoup $27 million under the Solyndra restructuring plan, or up to 100% of loaned funds from a $1.5 billion lawsuit filed against Chinese polysilicon solar-panel makers for alleged price fixing.

[15] The company manufactured its products in its second fabrication plant, Fab 2, a new $733 million state-of-the-art robotic facility in Fremont, California, which opened in September 2010.

[16] In March, 2009, Solyndra had estimated that:[17] According to an initial public offering by the company, the combined annual production capacity of the plants was projected to be 610 megawatts by 2013.

Solyndra announced on November 3, 2010, that it would lay off around 40 employees and not renew contracts for about 150 temporary workers as a result of a consolidation of its production facilities.

Market conditions were cited, with conventional solar modules manufactured in China by low-cost producers such as Suntech and Yingli offering stiff competition.

[28] Also in 2011, a US Department of the Treasury official confirmed that the criminal probe of Solyndra was focused on whether the company and its officers misrepresented the firm's finances to the government in seeking the loan or engaged in accounting fraud.

), Judge Mary F. Walrath of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware ruled "that the evidence does not support a finding that the principal purpose of the plan was tax avoidance.

"[23] In 2011 and 2012, during Obama's re-election campaign, the political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity spent $8.4 million in swing states on television advertisements denouncing the loan guarantee.

[35][36][37] In 2012 a very small fraction of the glass tubes, which Solyndra had produced, became part of an art installation at the University of California Botanical Garden.

[38] Solyndra designed, manufactured, and sold solar photovoltaic (PV) systems composed of panels and mounting hardware for large, low-slope commercial rooftops.

[16] When combined with a white roof,[a] the company claimed that systems that employ the panels on a given rooftop could produce significantly more electricity in a given year.

[43] The daily production of flat solar panels has an output curve that has a clear peak while Solyndra claimed their system produced more power throughout the day.