Ed Morrissey @ Hot Air
Congressional investigators probing the Obama administration’s actions in the collapse of Solyndra have discovered that the White House’s own budget office warned against the second cash infusion for the now-defunct solar panel manufacturer. Analysts at the Office of Management and Budget also warned that the second cash infusion would violate the law. Their concerns were overridden by Jack Lew, who then headed up OMB, and subsequently got promoted to chief of staff for Barack Obama after the loss of more than a half-billion dollars in loan guarantees:
Details about the debate emerge in internal government documents. They show that Energy Department officials argued that Solyndra might be able to pull out of its downward spiral if given an emergency infusion of cash.
They also show that career OMB staffers circulated a series of e-mails emphasizing the risks of restructuring the loan. In congressional testimony last year, the agency’s deputy director suggested that career staffers made the final determination about what to do and “used their best expertise.”
The House energy committee is expected to release the results of its 18-month investigation into Solyndra this week. Its report, parts of which were obtained by The Washington Post, suggests that then-OMB Director Jack Lew let the refinancing move forward without intervening, even though some OMB analysts believed that a refinancing plan that favored private investors might violate the law. Lew is now White House chief of staff.
The analysis in January 2011 put the cost of an immediate default at $141 million, with a postponed default estimated — too low, it turns out — at $385 million. That is almost 3:1 odds on a company that couldn’t produce solar panels at a competitive price even after a huge taxpayer-financed loan. Even at that time, the OMB analysis pointed out that very big hole in the Solyndra/Department of Energy business plan.
The difference in default cost came directly from the risk produced from subordinating the taxpayers to a new round of private investors. The analyst who authored the report sent an e-mail to express her puzzlement about why the DoE would blithely surrender its senior position, especially given the risks:
Although righties like to castigate Solyndra, they seem not to realize that, “Solyndra Failed, But 119 Other Solar Companies and 100,000 Solar Workers Are Succeeding”.
http://www.earthtechling.com/2011/09/solyndra-failed-but-119-other-solar-companies-and-100000-solar-workers-are-succeeding/
Liberal1, I realize that you are drunk on the Obama [red] Koolaid, so let’s look at Obama’s “green” successes, shall we?
Evergreen Solar – $35M in DoE funds, $58M from Massachusetts), filed for bankruptcy
SpectraWatt – $500K, filed for bankruptcy
Solyndra – $535M, filed for bankruptcy
Beacon Power – $43M, filed for bankruptcy in Oct. 2011
Eastern Energy – $17M, filed for bankruptcy
Nevada Geothermal – $98.5M
SunPower – $1.58billion
First Solar – $3billion
Babcock & Brown – $178M (money went to Australia)
Ener1 – $118.5M, filed for bankruptcy Jan. 2012
Amonix – $5.9M, laid off 200 of its 300 employees
Fisker Automotive – $339M, to build cars in Finland
Abound Solar – $400M, filed for bankruptcy July, 2012
Solar Trust of America – $2.18M
Willard and Kersey Solar Group – $6M
Johnson Controls – $299M
Schneider Electric – $86M
A123 Systems – $279M, announced the first of July that it has perhaps [as much as] five months of cash left to fund operations. Shares are now selling at 48 cents/per share. Stifel Nicolaus previously said that A123 would need to raise an additional $75M by the fourth quarter of 2012 and another $200M in 2013 to fund its operations. You see, Liberal1, A123 is going belly up.
And all the companies I listed that have not yet filed bankruptcy, well, they are on the verge of doing so. If you consider this a success on the part of Obama’s green dreams, I would sure the hell hate to see what you consider a failure.
@Liberal1 (objectivity):
You don’t mention how many permit program rules have been amended to facilitate solar projects.
The permitting programs do not allow any of Obama’s hated energy sources.
In fact, new hoops, higher and smaller have been erected by Obama to prevent coal, oil and other energy projects.
Many more than Solyndra have failed and taken OUR TAX MONEY down the drain with them.
For instance:
Amonix Solar lasted only 1 year. It managed to squander $20 million in federal tax credits and grants given by Obama Administration before going under.
Solar Trust of America
Bright Source Obama allowed a a $1.6 billion U.S. loan guarantee in March 2011.
LSP Energy
Energy Conversion Devices
Abound Solar Obama gave them $400,000,000 then they failed.
SunPower sold itself to a big oil company to avoid going completely under. It no longer produces solar cells.
Beacon Power lasted 1 year after Obama gave it $43,000,000 of our money.
Ecotality from SF got two loans from Obama and went under. We are only $115,000,000 poorer for it.
A123 Solar got $279,000,000 then Solyndra failed and this company lost $400,000,000.
Obama’s solution? Give this company another $500,000,000.
UniSolar
Azure Dynamics
Evergreen Solar somehow squandered more than the $527,000,000 Obama gave it before it went under.
Ener1 $100,000,000 from Obama and out of business.
The Department of Energy’s Section 1603 grant program, a Solyndra-style ‘stimulus’ program that offers cash payments to renewable energy companies., has given these companies over $10,000,000,000 (ten BILLION) and hasn’t got jobs or even going concerns to show for it.
Yet, in March, 2012, Obama visited a dusty, desert town 30 miles outside Las Vegas Wednesday to declare he’s doubling down on federal efforts to boost the solar industry.
The problem for Obama is that job growth is flat. There are only 10 full-time employees at the Copper Mountain Solar 1 Facility, the largest photovoltaic solar power plant in the nation!
The other problem is this plant produces just 58 megawatts per hour to power 17,000 homes, while a typical coal-fired power plant can produce 600 megawatts an hour and about seven times the electricity!
Solyndra 2.0? Biden Megadonor Gets $500 Million Loan to Build Solar Company in India
Solyndra 2.0?
A Biden megadonor received a $500 million government loan to build a solar company in India.
The United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) granted First Solar the loan after lawmakers demanded the government avoid funding solar companies connected to slave labor in China (John Kerry’s favorite kind of solar projects).
“The United States International Development Finance Corporation, formerly known as OPIC, has a history of deals gone bad when mixing taxpayer dollars with politically connected entities like First Solar,” said Tom Anderson, director of the Government Integrity Project at the National Legal and Policy Center. “This agency has a history of favoring entities backed by huge political contributors, like First Solar, by giving them less scrutiny while prioritizing politically connected projects above entities and individuals who are not politically active.”
The Washington Free Beacon reported:
A solar energy company owned by a Biden megadonor received a $500 million government loan to build a manufacturing facility in India, the Biden administration announced this week, raising questions about whether the company’s political clout played any role in the financing
The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation granted the loan to First Solar, which is owned by billionaire Walmart heir Lukas Walton, to build a solar module plant in India. Walton contributed over $300,000 to President Joe Biden’s campaign last year, and over $100,000 to the Democratic National Committee, according to campaign finance records.
The loan to First Solar is the “largest single debt financing transaction” issued by the DFC, the agency announced this week. The DFC said the investment in the India project will “promote DFC’s commitment to diversifying supply chains,” following demands from lawmakers that the agency avoid funding any solar projects connected to forced labor in China.
Ethics watchdogs said the loan raises questions about whether First Solar’s political connections played a role in the DFC’s decision. The federal financing agency, which was formerly known as the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, has faced criticism in the past for funding projects linked to political donors. The loan also comes nine years after the Obama administration came under fire for approving $3 billion in loan guarantees to the same company—funding that Republican lawmakers alleged the company wasn’t qualified to receive.
On September 6, 2011, Solyndra, a ‘solar energy startup’ that received a $535 million loan from the Obama Regime, filed for bankruptcy.
It was a success for Obama donor George Kaiser.
Emails revealed that investor Kaiser pushed for a loan to a solar energy company that later went bankrupt.