On the day it closed, Solyndra said it was laying off 1,100 full-time and temporary employees.
But 1,861 workers lost their jobs as the solar panel manufacturer shut its doors, according to U.S. Labor Department documents provided to The Bay Citizen under the Freedom of Information Act.
The documents also show the Fremont-based company increased production in 2011, even though it failed to sell all the panels it made the previous year.
By the time it closed last August, Solyndra had an unsold inventory of more than 23 megawatts – enough solar panels to power about 23,000 homes.
Analysts said the revelations are likely to add new fuel to the partisan fire surrounding the demise of Solyndra, which received a $535 million federal loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy in 2009.
“Information like this represents a great deal of ammunition for Romney and his allies,” said Dan Schnur, a former Republican political consultant who now runs the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California.
Last month, Mitt Romney, the GOP presidential candidate, appeared outside the grounds of the shuttered factory with news cameras in tow and declared Solyndra to be a symbol of economic “failure.”
Two years earlier, President Barack Obama visited the company's Fremont headquarters and called its new plant, which was funded by the loan guarantee, a "testament to American ingenuity and dynamism."
In an email Tuesday, Michigan Rep. Fred Upton, the Republican chairman of the House Energy and Commerce committee, said the Labor Department documents reveal that "Solyndra was doing much, much worse" than the company and the Energy Department publicly acknowledged in the months before the company declared bankruptcy.
Upton has led a congressional investigation into Solyndra's failure. He and other Republicans have argued that the high-ranking Obama administration officials interceded on the company's behalf to get the loan guarantee.
"The more we learn by the day, the worse the news gets," he said.
The Energy Department and the White House Press Office did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
For their part, industry officials downplayed the Labor Department's findings.
“Solyndra is one firm that made some unfortunate business decisions and does not represent the rest of the vibrant, growing U.S. market,” said Tom Kimbis, spokesman for the Solar Energy Industries Association, an industry trade group.
According the Labor Department’s internal report, 1,861 workers were “separated” from Solyndra during the year it went bankrupt.
On Sept. 15, Shig Hamamatsu, Solyndra's vice president of finance, responded to a Labor Department inquiry by saying that the company had laid off 1,094 full-time employees, along with 649 temporary workers, 82 contract employees and 14 workers classified as "other." He said the company planned to lay off 22 more workers the next day. Hamamatsu said that an additional 85 U.S. employees would be laid off "when their functions are no longer needed," which would bring the total number of displaced workers to 1,946.
This important announcement propels smart's next generation electric drive product portfolio into a leadership role by positioning the technologically advanced smart fortwo electric drive as the lowest priced option for electric mobility in Canada. The third generation smart fortwo electric drive combines zero-emission motoring and agile handling for even more driving fun.
With an impressive 96 lb/ft of torque, the 55 kW electric motor accelerates from 0 to 60 km/h in just 4.8 seconds, and can effortlessly surpass a speed of 120 km/h. In addition to the higher battery capacity, the efficiency of the drive system now offers greater range. On a full charge, the 17.6 kWh battery enables the smart electric drive to travel around 145 kilometres in city traffic without producing any local emissions.
The next generation smart fortwo electric drive features a refreshed exterior appearance with dynamic new styling cues that include a larger grille, LED lights, revised bumpers and wider door sills. The extensive list of standard comfort features includes air conditioning, power windows, heated seats, and electrically adjustable heated mirrors.
To help ensure that passengers reach their respective destinations comfortably and safely, the smart fortwo electric drive also offers many advanced safety systems including the trademark tridion safety cell, electronic stability program and an anti-lock braking system with electronic brake force distribution.
The all-new smart ebike will introduce a practical and clever mode of power-assisted transportation on two wheels when it is launched in mid-July. The main components of the smart ebike such as the lightweight frame, battery housing, handlebars, LED lights and mudguards have been designed and developed specifically for smart. The rider has the flexibility to decide how much power he or she wants the 250 watt electric motor to deliver by pressing a button on the handlebar.
Depending on the power level selected and the cycling cadence, a battery charge can last for more than 100 kilometres. The portable, 423 Wh lithium-ion battery can be charged either at a normal socket or while riding. The maintenance-free rear-wheel hub motor also becomes a generator when the rider brakes which recuperates and stores braking energy.
"As a pioneer of intelligent urban mobility, it is absolutely fitting that smart will yet again set the benchmark by positioning the highly sophisticated, third generation smart electric drive as the lowest priced electric vehicle in Canada and by launching the all new smart ebike," said Tim A. Reuss, President and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Canada.
"The new smart fortwo electric drive has garnered significant attention since its official debut earlier this year, and I am extremely pleased that the pre-ordering program we introduced has generated a lot of excitement at our dealerships in anticipation of next year's official launch. We will continue to demonstrate the many benefits that the smart e-portfolio will offer customers through a national summer tour, and look forward to making these game-changing products available to eager customers from coast-to-coast."
California’s per-capita energy use has remained flat for 35 years and it wants to keep that way. That’s why state regulators are now targeting gadgets such as game consoles and even toilets in an effort to set standards that will require manufactures to reduce of rate of electricity and water their products consume.
The California Energy Commission plans to set energy efficiency standards for 15 products, which also include computer monitors, pool pumps and outdoor street lights, reported the San Jose Mercury News. Manufacturers tend to find energy efficiency standards onerous, but those rules also spell opportunities for tech companies that develop ways to reduce energy use.
The state has been setting energy efficiency standards since the late 1970s, and regulators are proud to point out that California is ahead of the country in pushing manufactures to consider energy use in their product development. In January this year it approved a standard for battery chargers for cell phones, computers and other equipment. The standard will be in effect starting Feb. 1 2013 for chargers used for consumer electronics and later for other gear. California households are home to about 170 million chargers total, or 11 per home, and the new standard will reduce energy use by almost 2,200 gigawatt hours and save $300 million also each year, the commission said.
The commission already has set standards for television and home appliances such as refrigerators, air conditioners and clothes dryers.
Not only is the commission targeting electronic gadgets, it also has tackled energy efficiency rules for buildings. Last month, the commission approved standards for new home and commercial building construction that mandate the use of certain types of windows, insulation, lighting and others. The requirements include making sure the residential and commercial building roofs are designed and built to allow solar panel installations. Commercial buildings will need to install sensors to make it possible for more natural light to come through the windows.
Not surprisingly, manufactures are often not pleased by these rules. The Consumer Electronics Association has been a leading critic of California’s effort for years and said the state has used outdated data to come up with energy efficiency standards. It added manufacturers have taken their own initiatives to reduce power use in their products, and in a response to California’s standard for TVs set in 2009, the association said the standard would increase the prices of gadgets, cut jobs and cause the state to lose tax revenues.
A strong posse of security personnel led by Superintendent of Police N. Bhaskaran conducted a raid on a “gambling den” located in an interior place near Ulundurpet on Saturday night.
The policed rounded up 27 persons, including a Vice-Chairman of a Town Panchayat Thandavarayan (said to be owing allegiance to the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), the land owner Singaravelan (57) and his son Tirupati (30). In all 19 vehicles, one single barrel muzzle loading shotgun, Rs.2.40 lakh in cash and 14 cell phones were seized.
Mr. Bhaskaran told The Hindu that on receiving an anonymous call about the illegal activity going on in the farm house, he along with 40 police personnel, including two Inspectors, set out to nab the culprits.
He said that the den was located two kilometres deep inside a secluded spot and the four-wheeler could go only up to one kilometre and from there the access to the place was through a single pathway.
Mr. Bhaskaran said that in his service he had not seen such a gambling den with large number of cars and several moneyed persons coming on weekends.
There were 14 cars, four two-wheelers and one autorickshaw. Soon after reaching the parking lot the SP posted some of the personnel there to guard the vehicles and to prevent anybody from giving a slip to the police.
The SP further said that getting the scent of police movement those in the farm house switched off the lights and ran away making the police to chase them in the unchartered territory, in pitch darkness, where at least two ground-level farm wells and one prawn farm were located.
Some of the persons even challenged the police for having entered into their territory and threatened the latter with dire consequences. With great difficulty the police had to operate and yet certain persons escaped under the cover of darkness.
Those rounded up hail from places as far as Chennai, Tiruchi, Salem, Puducherry, Villupuram and Cuddalore. They were habituated to play the banned games such as “mangatha, ulle veliye and rummy” with high stakes, running into lakhs, throughout Saturday night and until Sunday dawn.
It was also learnt that criminals indulging in jewellery heist too used to frequent the place. There were also reports about the winners of the card games facing danger from the organisers.
The organisers used to have their own security guards and it was they who would pick up the visitors and drive them through the single path to the farm house where gambling was taking place.
They were booked under the provisions of non- bailable offences, including the Arms Act and the Gambling Act, and remanded in judicial custody, Mr. Bhaskaran said.
A plan for how to get the ball rolling on a two-year old downtown redevelopment report will soon arrive before city council.
A lengthy discussion at Wednesday's Development and Infrastructure Committee meeting outlined proposals for the physical landscape, as well as changing to an incentive program to make the city's core more attractive to developers.
Plans include electrifying the city's signature natural gas lights, changing planters at mid-block crosswalks, adding public art and a nearly complete refurbishment of street, sewers and utility infrastructure over the next 10 years.
City council has already approved $2.5 million to improve street lights that will likely see the traditional gas lights converted to electric LED lights N a measure the committee hopes will add a sense of security to the core and bring in shoppers and diners after dark.
The committee's chair, Ald. John Hamill, said that he supported the move, but it will be pointless if shops don't extend their hours.
"If you go down after 8 p.m. you can fire multiple cannons and not hit a soul," said Hamill, who felt that the business owners must match the city's enthusiasm for improving business in the area.
"We built a $50 million building (the Esplanade) down on the corner that was supposed to save downtown and nothing's happened."
Mavis Conrad, the executive director of the City Centre Development Agency, said that a pilot project over the winter saw about 70 per cent of businesses extend their hours to 8 p.m. during the winter but other owners didn't feel safe after locking up because of the dim streetlights.
"If the lighting was better, I'm sure a majority of business owners would stay open later," she said.
As for how the lighting switch would work, Dwight Brown, the director of planning for the city, believes that wiring can be pulled through gas lines that currently connect the lamps.
A pilot project this fall on 600 block of Second Street will determine final specifications, then replacement would take place street by street coinciding with other road and utility replacement.
The infrastructure plan was also spelled out at Wednesday's meeting. The city will dedicate $7.1 on storm sewer replacement and upgrades in the core, nearly $18 million on water and sewer upgrades, as well as $750,000 on road overlay. All three will be done at the same time, starting with single blocks of Second Street and South Railway Street this year. The remainder of second Street would be done in 2015, and portions of Third Street in 2017 and 2018.
"You listen to some people and they say we shouldn't spend a dime on downtown," said Ald. Wayne Craven. "But it's our historic district ad it's our responsibility."
As for on street parking, the possibility of angled parking was not recommended as it would mean parking on only one side with the possibility for more accidents.
The problem of visibility at mid-block crosswalks could be mitigated by removing large planters on the one side N which would give oncoming traffic a better view of pedestrians.