President Visits California Solar Panel Manufacturing Plant

President Obama visited a Fremont company Wednesday morning promoting green tech and speaking about job creation.

Obama is shining the national spotlight on Solyndra which is turning half a billion dollars in government stimulus money into local jobs.

President Obama addressed a couple hundred people at the plant, including Governor Schwarzenegger. Obama talked jobs and green technology and how the two come together at Solyndra.

The president took a good 20-30 minutes to look at the existing facility. The company has been around for years making solar panels. But the building where the president spoke Wednesday morning is still under construction. It is a massive addition made possible by a half billion dollar loan as part of the National Recovery Act. The president talked of this building as what he calls a “symbol of promise.” An example of how the money loaned here will mean jobs across America.

“Since the project broke ground last fall more than 3,000 construction workers have been employed building this plant. Across the country workers in 22 states are manufacturing the supplies for this project. Workers in a dozen states are building the advanced manufacturing equipment that will power this new facility. When it is completed in a few months, Solyndra expects to hire 1,000 workers to manufacture solar panels and sell them across America and the world,” said President Obama.

He also talked about how a loan from the Department of Energy made it possible for Tesla to join with Toyota on an electric car plant at the old NUMMI facility in Fremont.

The president also warned that much more needs to be done with wind power and biotech because the rest of the world is eagerly pursuing those industries and without a commitment to renewable energy and sometimes federal assistance, the U.S. might lose its place as the number one economic power on the planet.