From the American Council On Renewable Energy.

CLAIM: The Department of Energy’s Loan Guarantee Program is wasting taxpayer money. Abound Solar’s bankruptcy is proof of that.

FACT:

  1. The Loan Guarantee Program was created in 2005 with bipartisan support under the George W. Bush administration and designed to provide government support for “innovative technologies.” (Source: CNNMoney, http://cnnmon.ie/LBryTy)
  2. Congress appropriated a pool of funds to cover any losses from the program. 95% of that money is still available to cover any potential future losses. (Source: CNN Money, http://cnnmon.ie/LBryTy)
  3. 87 % of the $16.1 billion in DOE loan guarantees is backing 18 power generation projects, which have a low risk of default because they were required to have buyers for their power output. (Source: Bloomberg Government, http://bit.ly/rCXgZP)
  4. The Loan Guarantee Program has been credited with making solar “bankable” for major investors – shifting it from a risky investment requiring a costly premium to “part of a much broader capital market.” (Source: Bloomberg BusinessWeek, http://buswk.co/N9AdLu)
  5. Partly as a result, the solar market in the United States continues to grow. In 2011, U.S. solar photovoltaic installations grew by over 100%; the value of the systems installed in 2011 alone was more than $8.5 billion. (Source: Solar Energy Industries Association, http://slidesha.re/AuCU8p)
  6. Like many companies across the global solar industry, Abound Solar faced intense pressure from the rapidly declining cost of photovoltaic panels and Chinese companies’ cost and financing advantages. (Source: Credit Suisse, http://bit.ly/LaOjNf)
  7. Abound Solar had received bipartisan support, including a range of tax credits and grants (Source: Indiana Economic Development Corporation, http://1.usa.gov/MEsKpo)

What they don’t say is that the projects that aren’t in trouble are large enterprises that don’t need financial help from U.S. taxpayers. The ones that are in trouble or have failed — like Solyndra — seem to have be chosen because of the speed with which said enterprises could hire workers rather than the actual business model.

So, here’s my claim to “fact check.” Billions of dollars are going to firms that don’t need the financial help in an effort to make the president look good, while hundreds of millions of dollars have been wasted on failed business models that any first-year MBA should have seen as a problem. Looking forward to an answer.