It appears that Republicans have a favorite solar energy company -- and oddly enough, it has a lot in common with Solyndra.

Like Solyndra, Solar3D is a California-based company trying to develop a three-dimensional solar cell.

The big difference is that Solar3D hasn't applied for and doesn't ever intend to use federal funds to help get its product to the solar market.

In fact, Solar3D President Jim Nelson is so opposed to government subsidies for his venture that he came to Capitol Hill yesterday to testify at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on the Department of Energy's controversial loan guarantee program.

"The DOE loan guarantee to Solyndra was an embarrassing example of the current system," Nelson said. "Politics trumped reason."

By contrast, Nelson said his company has been supported by private investment since its establishment in August of 2010.

"We are not depending or dependent on government funding," he said.

In his opening statement, Nelson urged Congress to let economic forces, not government policy, drive the development of green technology.

"Our government should trust the free-market forces that made America great," he said.

Republicans on the panel were quick to lavish praise on the way Nelson has chosen to run his company.

"Jim has shown that billions of taxpayers' dollars are not necessary to advance green technology," Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who chaired the hearing, said in his opening statement.

Later, after running through a laundry list of concerns with the heads of four different renewable energy companies that took a combined $5 billion in loan guarantees, Jordan again pointed to Solar3D as an example of how things should be done (Greenwire, May 16).

"Mr. Nelson is doing it on his own with private investment, and he's making it," Jordan said.

But Solar3D hasn't quite made it yet.

Nelson said in an interview after the hearing that his company currently consists of five employees. And as far as actually making a product to sell, Nelson said that Solar3D has not hit the production stage but continues to work through various innovation issues. Thus, the company has not actually made any money since beginning operations in August 2010.

Nelson said the company expects to go commercial before hitting $10 million in losses.

"We're doing fine," he said. "We have plenty of money to do what we need to do."

But Solar3D's annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission at the end of 2011 demonstrates just how tough a climb the company has ahead of it.

"We have incurred significant losses from operations, and such losses are expected to continue," the report states. "In addition, we have limited working capital. The foregoing raises substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. Management's plans include seeking additional capital. We cannot guarantee that additional capital will be available when and to the extent required, or that if available, it will be on terms acceptable to us."

The report estimates the company needs $700,000 in 2012 alone for product development and marketing and sales.

After the hearing Greg Kats, the Democrats' invited witness on the panel, who heads the Washington, D.C.-based clean energy advisory firm Capital-E, said that he did not appreciate Nelson's "holier than thou" testimony.

"If this is really their example of a successful company, then God help America -- nobody will be employed," said Kats, who argues that an objective look at DOE's entire loan portfolio shows that, as a whole, the program has been successful.

Kats also charged that Nelson's testimony was hypocritical because his company benefits from using clean rooms and lab space at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), which is subsidized by the state of California.

Nelson is upfront about his use of UCSB facilities and even noted it in testimony he submitted to the committee. But he denied that it amounts to any kind of subsidy.

"I'm paying the rate that they ask anybody in the private sector to pay to use their facilities," Nelson said. "He can say that all he wants to try to discredit the fact that we are a private entity. ... There's no special negotiation or special deal I'm taking from the university."

But Kats remains a skeptic.

"He's getting public subsidies to support his company -- he just doesn't admit it," Kats said.