World’s largest solar plant applying for federal grant to pay off federal loan

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After already receiving a controversial $1.6 billion construction loan from U.S. taxpayers, the wealthy investors of a California solar power plant now want a $539 million federal grant to pay off their federal loan.

“This is an attempt by very large cash generating companies that have billions on their balance sheet to get a federal bailout, i.e. a bailout from us – the taxpayer for their pet project,” said Reason Foundation VP of Research Julian Morris. “It’s actually rather obscene.”

The Ivanpah solar electric generating plant is owned by Google and renewable energy giant NRG, which are responsible for paying off their federal loan. If approved by the U.S. Treasury, the two corporations will not use their own money, but taxpayer cash to pay off 30 percent of the cost of their plant, but taxpayers will receive none of the millions in revenues the plant will generate over the next 30 years.

“They’re already paying less than the market rate,” said Morris, author of a lengthy report detailing alleged cronyism and corruption in the Obama administration’s green energy programs. “Now demanding or asking for a subsidy in the form of a grant directly paying off the loan is an egregious abuse.”

Google is headed by the Obama donor Eric Schmidt. Google pays about 2.5% in income taxes.

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Taxpayers twice helping Obamabuddies get or stay rich.
What they knew and when they knew it:
1. Sunshine at any spot …..even in a desert…..is always intermittent and often unreliable. Solar panels can deliver significant energy only from 9am to 3pm – a maximum of 25% of each day.
2. Solar energy is very dilute, so huge areas of land are needed to collect industrial quantities of energy.
1 square meter of 24/7 sunshine powers only 13 100 watt bulbs, all day and night.
But real solar works only 25% of the time, so only 13 100 watt bulbs for 6 hours.
3. Large-scale solar power farms create environmental damage over large areas of land.
Solar collectors may manage to convert only about 10% of the sun’s energy into electricity, the rest being reflected or turned into heat.
But the whole solar spectrum is blocked, thus robbing 100% of the life-giving sunshine from the ground underneath, creating a man-made solar desert

I heard this a few days age and thought it was a joke. But it’s really true and not a joke. Is the Treasury really going to front for these wealthy fools? When my company was in trouble years ago the government did not run in to help me and we survived. Let Google etc. give it a try on their own.

Crony capitalism at work. Washington D.C. is not known as the District of Crooks for nothing.

@old+guy: Well, you are partially right. It is true, but it is indeed a joke. A cruel joke on the American taxpayer. Poor, struggling Google needs the help.