Don’t worry, the Solydra loan was a good bet
(Business Week) U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu told President Barack Obama in mid-2011 that loans in the department’s clean-energy program were sound, two months before the bankruptcy of recipient Solyndra LLC.
A draft prepared by Energy Department officials for Chu to brief Obama on June 27, 2011, also pushed to continue the program, slated to expire three months later, according to documents released today by the Republican-led House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
How’d that work out? Gotta love how the Smartest Administration Evah! was so utterly clueless to the economics of the situation.
(Business Week) A tax break passed by lawmakers four years ago to spur investment in solar energy has become a more costly deal for the state than expected, siphoning millions of dollars from Louisiana’s coffers above what had been estimated.
When lawmakers passed the Wind and Solar Energy Systems Tax Credit in 2007, fiscal analysts said they expected lost state tax income to be less than $500,000 a year.
But in four years of the tax break, the state has shelled out $37 million for the tax credit — more than 18 times the maximum estimate, according to data provided to The Associated Press by the Department of Revenue.
I’m shocked that a government program ended up being over 18 times more expensive than originally estimated. Aren’t you shocked?
(Washington Examiner) President Obama, as part of his “we can’t wait†for congressional approval initiative, announced that the Office of Management and Budget will expedite approval of a Nevada project owned by a solar company with a history of using taxpayer subsidies to sell products to itself.
First Solar’s “Silver State South Solar Energy project is a solar energy generation plant proposed on 13,043 acres of public land,†the White House said in an announcement of the initiative. “If approved, it would produce an estimated 350 MW of clean energy utilizing photovoltaic technology– enough to power approximately 105,000 homes – and help the State of Nevada meet its renewable energy goals.â€
This is a company that, as The Washington Examiner’s Tim Carney reported, relies on taxpayer subsidies while selling products to itself.
Remember, First Solar recently laid off 2,200 employees
Oh, and there’s more which I’m adding after writing the above and saving the draft. Not solar related, but, related to Obama’s green energy fiasco
U.S. battery maker A123 Systems, which got a $249 million green technology grant from the U.S. government three years ago, said on Wednesday that a Chinese auto parts maker is looking to take an 80 percent stake in the faltering company.
So, after wasting all that taxpayer money, China will take most of it over. Great.
