The federal government has shelled out some $80 billion to support various clean energy initiatives. Unfortunately, many of these so-called “investments” are failing.
A very revealing report by Marita Noon, executive director for Energy Makes America Great Inc., identifies how this money has been wasted. Her report goes into detail about the companies that have received government “investments”, such as loans or grants.
The essence of the report can be grasped by listing the companies in which the government has “invested”, and how they fared.
Some of these companies (underlined) were featured in earlier Power For USA articles. See Clean Energy Results, August 30, 2011, and Lining up at the Money Trough,October 4, 2011.
The companies listed in the report by Marita Noon include:
Solyndra
Received $535 million DOE loan and $25.1 million in California tax credit.
Bankrupt: September 2011
Abound Solar
Received part of a $60 million grant under the Bush administration, and was awarded a $400 million loan under Obama in December of 2010. It was also awarded a $9.2 million loan from the Export-Import Bank in July 2011.
Bankrupt: June 2012
Beacon Power
Received more than $25 million in DOE grants and a DOE loan for $43 million.
Bankrupt: October 2011
AES Eastern Energy/Energy Storage
Received $17.1 million DOE conditional commitment on August 2, 2010.
Bankrupt: December 31, 2011
Amonix
Received $6 million in federal tax credits and a $15.6 million grant from the DOE for research and development.
Bankrupt: July 18, 2012
Azure Dynamics
Received millions in stimulus funds and over $1.7 million in Michigan state tax credits.
Bankrupt: March 27, 2012
Babcock & Brown
Received $178 million in the largest federal (1603) stimulus wind grant in December 2009
Placed into voluntary liquidation: March 13, 2009
Energy Conversion Devices Inc./Uni-Solar
Received a $13.3 million Stimulus tax credit.
Bankrupt: February 2011
Ener1
Received a $118.5 million DOE Stimulus grant.
Bankrupt: January 26, 2011
Evergreen Solar, Inc.
Received Stimulus funds, grants, tax-credits, low-interest loans and subsidies.
Evergreen also received $58 million in taxpayer subsidies from the State of Massachusetts in 2008.
Bankrupt: August 15, 2011
Konarka Technologies Inc.
Received $20 million in grants from government agencies such as the DOE and the Pentagon.
Bankrupt: June 4, 2012
Raser Technologies
Received $33 million Treasury Department Stimulus grant.
Bankrupt: May 2, 2011
SpectraWatt
Received $500,000 grant from the Renewable Energy Lab via the Stimulus.
Bankrupt: August 23, 2011
Stirling Energy Systems
Received $7 million from a federal renewable-energy grant and was eligible for nearly $10.5 million in manufacturing tax credits.
Bankrupt: September 28, 2011
Thompson River Power LLC
Received $6.5 million in Stimulus funds from Section 1603.
Bankrupt: July 2, 2012
Some additional information about government loans and grants include:
Abengoa
Received a $1.45 billion loan guarantee from the Department of Energy (DOE).
This is a foreign company with tax payer money at risk.
Range Fuels
(From report by Atlanta Journal-Constitution) “Approved for $162 million in grants, loans and loan guarantees for the Georgia venture. Half that amount was disbursed — and lost by taxpayers — for the cellulosic ethanol plant, now idle, in the east Georgia town of Soperton.”
Cello Energy
Could not produce cellulosic ethanol in commercial quantities.
Plant is idle.
Now, as of October 16, 2012, we can add A123 Systems to the list of bankrupt companies that received grants from the government.
The sad truth is that the government cannot pick winners, and inevitably picks losers when it puts tax payer money at risk.
While there is a role to be played by government in funding fundamental research for experimental technologies, the government, when backing companies, is invariably motivated by a political agenda, in this case so-called “clean energy”, rather than being focused on a business’ viability in a free market.
Note:
Marita Noon’s full article can be seen at http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/maritanoon/2012/09/30/obama_never_admits_green_failure
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