Solar firm to get U.S. loan guarantee

A Fremont, Calif., company that makes solar panels will receive a $535-million federal loan guarantee, allowing it to finish the first phase of construction of a factory, a government official said.

The loan guarantee for Solyndra Inc. is to be made by the Energy Department as part of the $787-billion economic stimulus package.

The expansion is expected to create as many as 3,000 construction jobs and 1,000 long-term jobs.

The news is welcome for Fremont, a Bay Area city of 215,000 that was stung recently when Toyota Motor Corp. said it would shut next year a Fremont plant it has run with General Motors Corp. for 25 years. The car factory employs 4,600.

Vice President Joe Biden will announce the loan guarantee for Solyndra today by satellite as Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger visit the company, a federal official said.

The first phase of the Solyndra facility could lead to the production of as many new solar panels as the U.S. produced in all of 2005.