Bankruptcies shake the solar industry

WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) — Energy analysts say it's too early to know if America's solar power industry is undergoing a major shakeout. But tremendous change is afoot following the bankruptcies last week of two giant solar companies.

Given the billions of tax dollars at stake, how stable is the solar industry?

The financial implosion of powerhouse solar energy companies Sun Edison and Abengoa have, at least on paper, burned a hole through the pockets of taxpayers that's seven and a half times larger than the Solyndra meltdown in 2011.

"Look at Solyndra, a half a billion dollars down the tube. Now we have another one," said David Williams with Taxpayers Protection Alliance.

Sun Edison and Abengoa received more than a combined $4 billion in federal and state loans, grants, tax exempt bonds and more according to Good Jobs First and federal government records.

"A lot of the political leaders, who philosophically have determined it's in their best interest to promote Green Energy regardless of cost are not being open and transparent with the American people," said Rep. Ed Whitfield (R- Kentucky).

Since the well-documented failure of Solyndra, at least 80 more solar companies have filed for bankruptcy in the past five years. The federal government during that time has given away billions more to seed the industry.

"They keep giving these loans out, these guarantees, these handouts, so we are not seeing the government actually learning anything from these failures," said Williams.

Insiders claim the solar energy market is maturing and with the installation of solar panels on the one millionth building in the U.S. earlier this year, they see a stable industry.

"Solar is the fastest growing new source of electricity in the U.S." said Bob Gibson, VP of Smart Electric Power Alliance.

"Most industry analysts see that by 2020 solar will be competitive."

But solar power right now still only provides about one percent of America's energy needs.

Watchdogs say that's reason enough for the federal government to stop gambling with taxpayers' money.

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