Free Republic

As every ten-year-old who ever got a sweater for a birthday present has been told, “It’s the thought that counts.” That seems to be the guiding principle at the Department of Energy and the California Public Utilities Commission when it comes to solar power. The latest example is the $2.2 billion Ivanpah solar thermal plant in California. (Note: Solar thermal plants do not use solar panels to directly convert sunshine to electricity, they use sunshine to boil water that then drives conventional turbines.) Here’s the story so far, Ivanpah: Is owned by Google, NRG Energy, and Brightsource, who have a...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into SunEdison to see whether or not the company exaggerated its cash on hand in disclosures last year. The news comes as the solar developer is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. The solar company has seen its stock collapse since last year as mounting debt problems have raised concerns about the company’s ability to keep the lights on. SunEdison’s share price is off by 96 percent since last July. That has translated to a decline of the company’s market capitalization from $10 billion last summer to just $400 million today. SunEdison...

Horror at the world's largest solar farm days after it opens as it is revealed panels are SCORCHING birds that fly over them The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, the world's largest solar plant of its kind, recently switched onThe plants is located on five square miles of the Mojave Desert, near the California / Nevada borderState energy officials have released photos of bird with singed feathers from flying into the hot 'thermal flux' around the towers, which can reach 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit The plant is made up of three generating units surrounded by more than 300,000 reflecting mirrorsAt...

The recent Chapter 7 bankruptcy and liquidation filing of the Toledo, Ohio-based solar-panel manufacturer Xunlight Corp. has attracted barely any national attention. Maybe it’s gotten to the point — after Solyndra, Evergreen, Abound, and Satcon — that the failure of another government-backed alternative energy company is a dog-bites-man story. It’d be newsworthy if any of them actually ever succeeded. But it’s worth pausing for an autopsy and retrospective on Xunlight, because it’s a great (or terrible, depending on how you look at it) example of how government at all levels — state and federal — and in both parties —...

<p>JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Mississippi taxpayers may have only an empty Senatobia building and some solar panel equipment to show for nearly $26 million in loans provided to Twin Creeks Technologies.</p> <p>The California-based solar technology firm is liquidating, and a company that bought Twin Creeks' assets does not intend to take over its agreement with Mississippi. The contract called for Twin Creeks to invest at least $132 million and create at least 500 jobs.</p>

A congressional oversight panel wants to know when the Obama administration became aware of significant technological issues at a renewable energy company it helped fund, including the propensity of its solar panels to burst into flames when exposed to the sun. Abound Solar Manufacturing was awarded a $400 million line-of-credit in taxpayer-backed loans from the Energy Department (DOE), and is the third company funded by President Barack Obama’s stimulus plan to go bankrupt, along with Solyndra and Beacon Power. Republican Reps. Fred Upton of Michigan, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, along with Cliff Stearns of Florida and...

Here we go again. Yet another example of the Obama White House's failed attempt to pick winners and losers and doing so by gambling with our our tax dollars, this time to the tune of $6 million in tax credits and $15.6 in grant money from the U.S. Department of Energy. This company, Amonix, is only 14 months old. How in the world did it qualify for that kind of tax dollar windfall without any kind of track record? Oh: Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Gov. Brian Sandoval were among the political leaders who lauded...

Enterprise Community Investment, Inc. today announced the closing of the first loan under the Green Refinance Plus program, a partnership between Fannie Mae and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) introduced last year to incentivize energy and resource efficiency improvements in affordable housing.

NEW YORK (AP) — A shakeout that is rattling the solar panel industry has sent First Solar, once among the industry's biggest and strongest companies, to a big quarterly loss. First Solar Inc. said Thursday that it lost $449 million in the first quarter, The company also announced that its Chief Commercial Officer, James Hughes, would become CEO, replacing interim chief and company founder Mike Ahearn. First Solar said the loss amounted to $5.20 per share..... In the year-ago quarter, the company earned $115 million, or $1.33 per share, on revenue of $567 million. First Solar, along with other makers...

The Solar thing just got a little more interesting.......REALLY! The Tonopah Solar company in Harry Reid's Nevada is getting a $737 million loan from Obama's DOE. The project will produce a 110 megawatt power system and employ 45 permanent workers. That's costing us just $16 million per job. One of the investment partners in this endeavor is Pacific Corporate Group (PCG). The PCG executive director is Ron Pelosi who is the brother to Nancy's husband. Just move along folks.....nuthin goin on here. EVERY AMERICAN SHOULD KNOW HOW THEIR MONEY IS BEING STOLEN SO FORWARD THIS TO EVERYBODY.

It sits there in the sun, looking like the covered trash can that it is. But this receptacle is more than it seems. Costing $5,500, the "BigBelly" is a computerized, solar-powered compactor that, supporters say, can dramatically reduce garbage-collection costs. And that's the hope of Lynx, the bus service that serves Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties. Lynx has purchased four of the devices and is in the midst of a three-month test to see how well they work. The $22,000 bill was paid with federal-stimulus dollars. One month into the trial, Lynx officials say they like what they see. Doug...

CEO and founder of politically connected company questioned on day of raid. Now some Democrats wonder if they'd been misled Federal agents have expanded their examination of the now-bankrupt California solar power company Solyndra, searching the homes of the company's chief executive, a founder, and a former executive, examining computer files and documents, the Center for Public Integrity's iWatch News and ABC News have learned. Agents visited the homes of CEO Brian Harrison and company founder Chris Gronet. Agents also visited the home of a third executive involved in the company from the start, according to a source who agreed...