Back in the early 2010s, NLPC reported extensively about the (Barack) “Obama stimulus,” aka the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, with our focus primarily on the taxpayer-funded waste spent on allegedly “green” energy projects. The legendary solar flop Solyndra, the deadbeat borrower that stiffed the government on $535 million in loans extended by the Department of Energy’s Loan Program Office, was the most famous example of the era’s renewable “investment” failures.
NLPC exposed lots of the other unrecovered funds besides Solyndra that received LPO funds like luxury electric vehicle maker Fisker Automotive; Ford and Nissan’s EV projects; EV charging company Ecotality; and other solar delinquents like Abound Solar. If you’re still having trouble remembering what ARRA was, just think of the similarly misnamed Biden “Inflation Reduction Act” and its Green New Deal subsidies as the “lather, rinse, repeat” of the Obama stimulus.
Another solar flim-flam that NLPC pointed out at the time was the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (pictured above), which covered five square miles of federal land on the California-Nevada border. As we pointed out at the time, Ivanpah was one of several wind or solar projects “invested in” by energy-gulping Google to help bolster its green credentials:
Looking at the financial terms, two points are critical. The $1.6 billion of loans are guaranteed by the federal government, and Google announced in 2011 that it would invest $168 million in the project. Because of the federal loan guarantees and the mandated purchases of Ivanpah renewable energy, Google could probably borrow its equity of $168 million and have effectively none of its own money invested in it. This would result in an infinite return on its equity from those tax paid income streams…
Most of Google’s renewable investments qualify for a federal investment tax credit that covers 30% of the cost. Its $450 million investment in rooftop solar-systems also benefits from state incentives such as “net-metering” laws. This hidden subsidy compensates ratepayers for power they remit to the grid at the retail rate, which can be three times as much as the wholesale price of electricity. Net-metering allows solar companies to charge higher rates to homeowners who lease their panels, and thus for investors like Google to reap larger profits.
NLPC also reported during that period:
“The investment makes business sense and will help ensure that one of the world’s largest solar energy projects is completed,” Google posted on its blog. “We’re excited about Ivanpah because our investment will help deploy a compelling solar energy technology that provides reliable clean energy, with the potential to significantly reduce costs on future projects.”
Unfortunately, just like every other solar investor, Google expected taxpayers to bear the burden of a $1.6 billion loan guarantee by the Department of Energy for Ivanpah. Meanwhile the formerly mainstream media wants you to believe that “clean technology” is the hot new thing in investments, as though government subsidies, tax breaks and mandates have nothing to do with it.
Compounding the problem are the inevitable obstacles to such a large-scale utility project, many of which are thrown up by the very environmentalists who demand the use of renewables in the first place. The primary concern with Ivanpah – and also other proposed solar projects for sun-rich California – is the protection of the desert tortoise. According to an East Bay (Calif.) Express report, federal authorities halted construction of the solar plant because more tortoises than expected were found at the site, and permits allowed only 38 of the species to be relocated and only three per year to be killed over the project’s three-year construction period.
Now going on fifteen years later, American taxpayers can now add Ivanpah on the waste pile of solar energy disasters — from Fox News:
A major solar power plant project that was granted over a billion dollars in federal loans is on the road to closure, with energy experts blasting the project as a “boondoggle” that harmed the environment.
In 2011, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under former President Barack Obama issued $1.6 billion in loan guarantees to finance the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, a green energy project that consists of three solar concentrating thermal power plants in California.
The facility was touted by then-Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz as an “example of how America is becoming a world leader in solar energy.” But after 10 years, the federally funded plant is now on track to close…
Ivanpah consists of three individual units, two of which were contracted by Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) in 2009 and scheduled to run until 2039.
In January, PG&E announced plans to cancel its agreement with Ivanpah 14 years early, determining that “ending the agreements at this time will save customers money compared to the cost of keeping them through 2039” – ultimately putting Ivanpah on notice for closure.
Part of the wind and solar scam is that public utilities, regulated by the states, are forced to accept the electricity generated by these kinds of projects, regardless of whether they need it or not or how undependable they are (when the wind isn’t blowing or sun isn’t shining). PG&E has had enough of Ivanpah that it decided it was better for it to go dormant than to continue to operate it and keep generating whatever power it could.
And certainly Google got its tax benefits from the scheme long ago and then bailed out while it was ahead.
Imagine that: a massive solar project in the Mojave Desert can’t be made economically feasible, despite government mandates and subsidies. If it can’t make it there, where can it make it?
