Who or what got to Drudge?
-----
San Jose (CA) based SunPower was a spinoff of San Jose based Cypress Semiconductor (run by President and CEO T.J. Rogers, an outspoken conservative-libertarian). In 2008 Cypress Semiconductor distributed its remaining stake in SPWR to Cypress shareholders, thus severing financial link and control over SPWR. In 2011 French giant integrated oil company TOTAL bought a controlling stake (60%) in SunPower for around $1.4 billion.
The deal also includes a $1 billion line of credit. TOTAL wants to increase its presence in the renewable energy sector, especially in the solar and biofuel sectors. SunPower will benefit from access to cash and credit that will allow it to accelerate plans to expand solar panel production and develop large-scale solar farms. The company is one of a small group of US and European solar firms that has been able to compete for market share with the rapidly growing Chinese panel makers.
Since 2008 SunPower was building a solar cell manufacturing facility in Malaysia. Fab 3 came online in 2010 and will be run as 50/50 joint venture with Taiwanese giant AU Optronics. SunPower has other plants, located in the Philippines and the US.
SunPower has made several acquisitions in the last three years, totaling less than $500M, and entered into multiyear polysilicon supply agreements with OCI Company (Korea), Hemlock Semiconductor Corp. (US), Jupiter Qingdao DTK Industries (China), and NorSun AS (Norway). SunPower also formed a joint venture with NorSun and its partners to build a polysilicon plant in Saudi Arabia.
-----
Author is making a huge mistake trying - for effect - to paint such a bleak financial picture of SunPower (whatever the merits or the problems of solar energy and industry are).
First, SunPower is not a "bank" - technology companies are valued very different from financial institutions, so they should not be compared on certain financial metrics.
Second, comparing the amount of long-term debt on the balance sheet to market cap of the publicly listed company is financially ignorant, to put it mildly. SPWR has liquid and long-term assets well in access of its total current and long-term debt and has been profitable for the last three years. In fact, last year it significantly increased sales and net profit margin as many would-be competitors (like Solyndra) fell by the wayside.
Whether DOE / NREL should be making these kind of loans / "investments" and pick winners and losers in the industry and between industries is an entirely separate issue from crony socialism and political and financial beneficiaries of these deals.
Author should have concentrated on political-financial axis / cronyism aspects of the DOE involvement rather than painting SunPower in the same light as Solyndra and other fraudulent money transfer to political donors and FOOs (Friends of Obama). It's pieces like these that create credibility gaps for conservative publications, which the liberals latch on to discredit conservative media.
Yeahbut, how much of SunPower's book has come about because of government money funding projects? Is it more like 15% or more like 85%?
Based upon my observations locally, it could be more like 95%; the stupid morons on the school board have put SunPower installations in the parking lots of several local schools. Lie to me and tell me that money came from ANYWHERE else other than government spending (read "tax dollars").
And how much of SunPower's overseas expansion is driven by infusions of cash from various governments? I don't see the growth being fueled by revenue from private-sector commercial or residential contracts.
The bottom line is this: when consumers can buy SunPower products through Lowes, or Home Depot, or COSTCO, that is when solar will be properly regarded as a serious player in the energy sector. At present, solar is a high-risk investor's crapshoot, and no better.
If there's a tech breakthrough that exponentiates panel efficiency at the same price point, or if halves production costs, THAT would be the kind of game changer that would make the investment pay off big, and move solar into the ranks of viable energy generation technology. As of this moment, it's better suited to spacefaring equipment, standalone electronic devices (highway call boxes, for example), and remotely located terrestrial facilities.