The recent high profile and increasingly suspicious collapse of Solyndra has left the Obama Administration looking like a bunch of dolts. The right wing noise machine is just besides themselves that Obama has bet and lost $535 million on Solyndra loan guarantees. Lost in the noise however is yesterday's breakthrough announcement from First Solar, another american solar panel pioneer.
Temp, Arizona's First Solar just announced that they have achieved 15.3% efficiency on their signature lost cost thin film solar panels, a huge step up from the current 11.7%. Their thin film panels are already the cheapest in the world at ~$0.73 per watt. This recent breakthrough will let them leapfrog their competitors here and in China.
What about the Obama Administration? Well- they have already provided First Solar with loan guarantees totaling $5.35billion to date. That's right. The Administration has bet 10 times as much on First Solar as they have on Solyndra. They are no chumps.