Trump Recovers Taxpayer Cash On A $1 Billion Obama-Backed Solar Plant That Was Obsolete Before Ever Going Online

[GURPS]

The settlement between DOE and Tonopah Solar Energy must now be approved by a bankruptcy court, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported.

The DOE provided a $737 million loan to Tonopah in September 2011 for the purposes of financing the $1.1 billion Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project in Nevada. The agency disbursed funds for the plant in 2011 and 2013 before the project experienced problems requiring improvements, rendering the Crescent Dunes obsolete by 2015, Bloomberg reported in January.

Thursday’s settlement will allow the DOE to recoup a portion of the $424 million Tonopah owes. The plant experienced an outage in 2016, forcing a shutdown lasting from October 2016 to July 2017, the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board reported in January. Another outage occurred in April 2019 and is ongoing.

https://dailycaller.com/2020/07/30/trump-obama-tonopah-crescent-dunes-solar-energy-solyndra/

 

[SamSpade]

It seems to me that if you want widespread adoption of stuff like solar energy, you've got to find a way to make it worth the money.

The only way I've seen it worth the money is either - VERY small scale (like a solar battery for phones, or solar outdoor lamps) or rolling the cost into the purchase of a home. Every other scheme involves spending a lot of money just to save the same amount.

SUSBSIDIZING companies that make them is a surefire way to kill the market - for example, how can companies compete if a few of them are being helped by Uncle Sam? Don't help the company - help the technology.

Make it cheap, and people will rush to get it.

 

[limblips]

Another Harry Reid enrichment scheme gone bad. Not for Harry but for those who have to pay for it.

 

[GURPS]

Make it cheap, and people will rush to get it.

that's the problem Alternitive Energy is NOT Cheap enough to suplant fossil fuels

 

[GURPS]

Another Green Energy Company That Received Millions From Taxpayers Under Obama Has Gone Bankrupt


On Friday, The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board wrote about another failure from the Obama era, this one costing taxpayers as much as $510 million. The company, Tonopah Solar Energy, operated the Crescent Dunes solar plant in Nevada, which received $737 million in guaranteed loans during the Obama administration. Tonopah was granted a Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan in early December.

“The plan includes a settlement with the Department of Energy that leaves taxpayers liable for as much as $234.68 million in outstanding debt, but the total public cost is even higher. Crescent Dunes also received an investment-tax credit, and the 2009 stimulus legislation allowed it to receive a cash payment in lieu of credit. In 2017 the plant received more than $275.6 million from Treasury under the Section 1603 program, which it used to service its outstanding liabilities. So taxpayers already gave Crescent Dunes cash to pay off its taxpayer-backed loans,” the Journal reported.

As the Journal reported, Crescent Dunes said it could use molten salt to retain heat from the sun to produce steam and generate power 24 hours a day, instead of just when the sun was shining. Those kinds of promises failed to get it financing from commercial lenders, but the Obama administration stepped in and provided the money.