Solyndra, a California-based company that designs and manufactures solar panels, will push through with its plan of axing around 170 workers, in which 130 are temporary employees and 40 are regular employees, despite its recent receipt of a $535 million stimulus federal loan grant. The federal loan grant is aimed at assisting the company in its construction of its new factory known as Fab 2. However, the solar panel maker is set to lay off many of its employees from its original factory- Fab 1, and is not hiring new staff to fill Fab 2.

David Miller, Spokesperson of Solyndra, revealed that the lay off plan is now in full execution. “The layoffs, which were announced in November, are occurring right now and will continue through the first quarter of 2011.”

The Co-director of the Center for the Study of Energy Markets at UC Berkeley, Severin Borenstein, explained that the solar power industry is not a lucrative industry that is why the company is still facing a lot of challenges despite the half-billion grant. “The fact that Solyndra is having trouble despite hundreds of millions of dollars of government help is the inevitable outcome of making investments before industries are really ready. Solar power is still pretty expensive compared to other forms of electricity. The solar panel that Solyndra makes, a unique cylindrical panel that can only work on a large, white, flat roof, is more expensive than most.”