While Solyndra was born from a controversial Department of Energy loan program that some conservatives have attacked as unjustified government intervention in the private marketplace, the bankrupt solar energy company is departing the business world in one of the most free market ways possible.

It's up for auction.

This week, Solyndra's surplus assets will be sold off in a public auction that will take place Wednesday and Thursday at the lavishly festooned facility in Fremont, Calif., that now stands as an abandoned monument to the company's spectacular failure.

SPECIAL REPORT

Solyndra, a solar manufacturer that was given a $535 million loan guarantee and touted by the White House as a model for the clean energy economy, has filed for bankruptcy. E&E examines how it got there and what it means. Click here to read the report.

That means the final day of the auction will occur on the same day the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee will be voting on whether to subpoena the White House for documents relating to its now-eight-month-old Solyndra investigation.

A preview of the auction -- which is also being broadcast online -- is taking place today and tomorrow, and members of the public will be allowed to browse the thousands of pieces of Solyndra up for grabs. The auction is being hyped by the company running the event as "the solar auction of the year."

Solyndra plans to sell its core business assets in one large sale through a separate process that is still being worked out through a bankruptcy court. But the company has been given the go-ahead to try to recoup as much money as it can for its surplus assets.

Among the thousands of items that are being liquidated by the company that President Obama once called "the true engine of economic growth" are hundreds of crates of Solyndra's innovative cylindrical solar panels that never made it off the factory floor. All told, there are enough solar tubes up for sale to produce 7 megawatts of electricity.

Also on the block is a vast array of equipment used to make those panels, including semiconductor fabrication and assembly tools, miles of copper and other wiring, test and measurement gear as well as robots, cranes (in 5- and 3-ton varieties) and even four tug carts (with a towing capacity of 5,000 pounds) in shiny Solyndra-yellow.

For those not in the solar panel business, the auction will offer plenty of other items for the home or office from personal computers and laptops, to desks, toolboxes, conference room tables and even three 52-inch LCD televisions. More than 900 office chairs are also on the block, which is not quite enough for each of the 1,100 workers who were laid off when Solyndra went bankrupt.

Those who may be keen on collecting a piece of political history without blowing the bank might be interested in one of the 24 microwaves used to cook the lunches of Solyndra employees and executives in the company's well-stocked kitchen.

And then there are two state-of-the-art security systems that are being sold off, though the descriptions online offer no indication of whether those lots also include any old surveillance tapes from Obama's now-infamous visit to the site.

After months of blasting Solyndra as a perfect example of why the government should not be in the business of picking winners and losers in the marketplace, this week's auction may be one Solyndra-related business decision that tea party Republicans can get on board with.

In a speech on the House floor this spring, Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.) called auctions "one of the cornerstones of American capitalism."

Long is one of two former auctioneers who was elected to Congress last fall. The other is South Carolina Rep. Jeff Duncan (R).

"Auctions are the last stronghold of the competitive free market enterprise system and continue to be the most effective means of establishing a fair market value," Long said in a speech celebrating National Auctioneer Day. "Even President George Washington was a big auction fan and an avid buyer at public auction."

Schedule: The Energy and Commerce subcommittee vote will be Thursday, Nov. 3. Details TBA.