Massachusetts solar-power company Konarka Technologies Inc. collapsed into bankruptcy after spending tens of millions of investor dollars and government grant money to research and manufacture thin plastic strips of sunlight-absorbing sheeting, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The company's debts topped more than $10 million, according to its bankruptcy petition, and a recent financial statement projects that roughly $113,541 will remain in the company's bank accounts after it pays out severance to employees and receives a final $82,000 grant payment from the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Since its founding, Konarka attracted investment from venture-capital firms and companies such as Konica Minolta, which bought a 7.5 percent stake in Konarka for $20 million in 2010. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney encouraged Konarka's growth during his term as Massachusetts governor. Konarka's filing came the same week that Romney visited a closed Solyndra LLC plant in California, where he criticized the Obama administration's decision to guarantee a $535 million loan to the solar-panel maker, which fell to foreign competition.
