Solyndra being the well-connected solar company that recently filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. You’ll recall that Barack Obama gave a speech at the company’s plant last year, where he touted the success of Solyndra as proof of the economic viability of the “green” sector.

But prior to cessation of operations and its filing for bankruptcy, the company conveniently received a half-billion dollar in federal loans at extremely low interest rates. Why? Perhaps the company’s political connections and its backer’s massive contributions to Barack Obama’s campaign helped move along the application.

House investigators said they have uncovered evidence that White House officials became personally involved in an Energy Department review of a hot-button $535 million loan guarantee to the now-failed California solar company Solyndra…

“We have learned from our investigation that White House officials monitored Solyndra’s application and communicated with [Department of Energy] and Office of Management and Budget officials during the course of their review,” the letter says…

“Here’s the bottom line,” [solar industry analyst Peter] Lynch said. “It costs them $6 to make a unit. They’re selling it for $3. In order to be competitive today, they have to sell it for between $1.5 and $2. That is not a viable business plan.”

So they got a half-billion dollar loan from the feds at an extremely low rate…despite the fact they lack a viable business plan? Hmm…

Other flags have been raised about how the Energy Department pushed the deal forward. The Center for Public Integrity’s iWatch News and ABC disclosed that Energy Department officials announced the support for Solyndra even before final marketing and legal reviews were in. To government auditors, that move raised questions about just how fully the department vetted the deal — and assessed its risk to taxpayers — before signing off.

One of the company’s top backers is a billionaire named George Kaiser. Kaiser served as a bundler for Obama in 2008, raising more than $50,000 for the campaign. He has other connections to Democratic politics, too. His National Energy Policy Institute is headed by former Democratic politicians.

Worse yet, Solyndra may just be the beginning:

Solyndra’s closing has raised concerns about other renewable energy investments by the Obama administration.

Frank Rusco, a Government Accountability Office director who helped lead a review of the Solyndra loan and the Energy Department’s loan guarantee program, said the GAO remains “greatly concerned” by its 2010 finding that the agency agreed to back five companies with loans without properly assessing their failure risk. The companies were not identified in the report, but the GAO has since acknowledged that Solyndra was among them. Three of the companies were working together on one massive nuclear project, and the Energy Department said Thursday those funds are not at risk because the money has not yet been released to the companies.

Corruption.