For those who didn't get enough of the Solyndra scandal last week, not to worry -- House Republicans intend to keep the bankrupt solar energy company and onetime White House pet project firmly in the spotlight this week.

Perhaps the most anticipated hearing of the week will take place before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Friday, when Solyndra executives will finally appear before the investigative panel that, for six months, has been looking into the $535 million loan guarantee the company received from the Department of Energy.

Solyndra has become a household name and front-page news in recent weeks following a sudden bankruptcy filing at the end of August and subsequent raid by FBI agents working in conjunction with officials from DOE's Office of Inspector General.

Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison and Chief Financial Officer Bill Stover had been invited to appear before the Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations subpanel last week alongside DOE and Office of Management and Budget officials, but they begged off, claiming they were deeply involved in bankruptcy proceedings to try to salvage what they could after shuttering the company. They are expected at this week's hearing, although the final witness list had not yet been released as of publication time.

But while the duo may have saved themselves from the wrath of congressional investigators for a week, Harrison and Stover probably did not do themselves any favors by delaying their appearance. Instead of appearing alongside senior Obama administration officials who received a four-hour drumming from Republican members at last Wednesday's hearing, Harrison and Stover are expected to have the witness stand to themselves.

And they aren't likely to find too many friendly faces on the Democratic side of the dais.

At last week's hearing, committee ranking member Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) questioned whether Solyndra executives provided accurate information to the Obama administration officials who were tasked with reviewing the company's loan application. Meanwhile subcommittee ranking member Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) said she wanted to know why company officials came to Washington, D.C., just six weeks before Solyndra filed bankruptcy to tell lawmakers that Solyndra was on sound financial footing.

As both sides gear up for the Solyndra showdown Friday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will offer something of a pre-game show Thursday at a hearing titled "How Obama's Green Energy Agenda is Killing Jobs."

With Republicans already looking to make Solyndra the poster child of Obama's stimulus effort, it is not hard to predict what committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) will point to as exhibit A at his Thursday morning meeting.

Solyndra's bankruptcy has not only cost American taxpayers a half billion dollars, it also put some 1,100 company employees out of work.

In the wake of the solar company's demise, Republican leaders have stepped up their calls for the Obama administration to stop "picking winners" by offering handouts in the form of grants and loans to green job companies.

"I think this whole idea that the president is going to create jobs in America from this green technology is suspect," said Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), who is leading the Energy and Commerce investigation.

Democratic officials have been quick to dismiss that assessment, arguing that pulling back from investing in green technologies will leave America behind the rest of the world in the global race to develop and eventually profit from green technologies.

On Friday, the Natural Resource Defense Council added its voice to that debate in a release on Solyndra and the future of clean energy.

"In 2009, there were 2.2 million green jobs in America, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics," NRDC spokesman Bob Keefe wrote. "By July of this year, the number was 2.7 million, according to the Brookings Institution. ... The green economy is strong and growing, even as the country struggles with a jobless recovery from the worst recession since World War II."

"We've got a jobs problem in this country," Keefe wrote. "That needs to change, and we all need to pitch in to make it happen. Part of the answer, and an important part of the answer, is to invest in our future. There is no greater opportunity, and no more urgent imperative, than for us to invest in a sound and secure energy future."

Schedule: The Energy and Commerce hearing is Friday, Sept. 23, at 9:30 a.m. in Rayburn 2123.

Witnesses: Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison and Chief Financial Officer Bill Stover are expected.

Schedule: The Oversight and Government Reform hearing is Thursday, Sept. 22, at 10 a.m. in 2154 Rayburn.

Witnesses: TBA.