Obama defends Solyndra decision, says some failures were inevitable

President Obama defended the Energy Department’s renewable-energy loan guarantee program Thursday and said it was inevitable that some of the companies chosen for the program would fail.

Obama was asked at a press conference Thursday about the bankruptcy of Solyndra, a California-based solar panel manufacturer that received a $535 million loan guarantee from the Energy Department in 2009.

“We knew from the start that the loan guarantee program was going to entail some risk by definition,” Obama said, adding that the “overall portfolio has been successful.”

“There were going to be some companies that did not work out; Solyndra was one of them,” he said.

Obama reiterated his defense of the Energy Department’s decision to greenlight the Solyndra loan guarantee, even amid concerns from some administration officials about the financial state of the company.

“All I can say is that the Department of Energy made these decisions based on their best judgment about what makes sense,” Obama said.

The president dismissed a series of emails that show administration officials disagreed about the Solyndra loan guarantee in the months after the administration approved financing for the company.

“Of course there were going to be some debates internally when you have something as complicated as this,” Obama said.

It's the second time that Obama addressed the Solyndra bankruptcy this week. Obama said Monday that he doesn't regret holding up Solyndra as a model for jobs and clean energy.

Solyndra filed for bankruptcy in early September, laying off 1,100 workers.

Obama also criticized recent comments by Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) — without naming the lawmaker — that the United States can't compete with China when it comes to solar and wind manufacturing. 

“You know what, I don’t buy that,” Obama said. “I’m not going to surrender to other countries technological leads that determine whether we’re building a strong middle class in this country.”

Stearns said the United States "can’t compete with China to make solar panels and wind turbines,” citing the bankruptcy of Solyndra.

The White House has targeted Stearns — the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s investigative panel — for his comments in recent days in an effort to defend the administration against growing criticism from Republicans. White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer called the comments “counterproductive defeatism” in a blog post Tuesday.

In an interview on Fox Business Network Wednesday night, Stearns said the White House has “spun this and truncated my words to say that I don't believe that we can manufacture solar panels.”

Stearns told reporters this week that his comments were taken out of context.

“I said, as it’s structured now, we can’t compete with China because they have low wages, access to materials and they have no environmental conditions,” Stearns told reporters in the Capitol Tuesday.

“The only way we can compete is to bring the technological advantage we’ve got in the computer industry and the aerospace industry and to manufacture our products with that [information technology] advantage, otherwise we can’t compete. So, they left that whole quote out.”

Stearns said he supports loan guarantees, but raised questions about investing in solar manufacturing. Solar generation, for example, offers better opportunities, he said.

“I think loan guarantees, when national security is involved and when we have a technological advantage, are completely appropriate,” he said Tuesday.

Obama said the United States needs to invest in clean energy technology in order to compete with other countries like China, which has invested billions in low-carbon energy sources.

"If we are going to be able to compete in the 21st century, then we’ve got to dominate cutting-edge technologies, we’ve got to dominate cutting-edge manufacturing,” Obama said.

The president acknowledged Thursday that clean-energy companies face a number of barriers, including competition from the fossil fuel sector and other countries.

“I think that what has been true historically is that businesses that rely on new technologies, a lot of times it’s going to take a while before they take off,” Obama said.

But Obama said he believes that the United States will ultimately prevail.

“I have confidence in American businesses and American technology and American scientists and American entrepreneurs being able to win that competition,” Obama said.

—Updated at 1:19 p.m.