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The Green Economy Revolution promised by Obama and Van Jones suffered another casualty today. Solar Millennium has filed for bankruptcy and that sucking sound that you are hearing is another $2.1 billion loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy. Strike one was the Solyndra debacle and Steven Chu should have been fired for incompetence. Here is his second strike:
But will this third strike be enough to remove him from office? The economy cannot sustain $4/gallon for gas but this is not their goal. As stated publicly, they want to raise the cost of gas so that we do not drive as much. Their logic is to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. The truth is that the United States is now exporting gasoline overseas. Food and energy are the main tools that the government is using to control the people. Cold and hungry are not a good combination unless the goal is to instigate civil unrest.
David DeGerolamo
DOE Offers $2.1 Billion Conditional Commitment Loan Guarantee, Support Solar Thermal Power
April 18, 2011
Washington D.C. — U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today [April 18, 2011] announced the offer of a conditional commitment for a $2.1 billion loan guarantee to support Units 1 and 2 of the Blythe Solar Power Project, sponsored by Solar Trust of America, LLC. The concentrating solar thermal power plant includes two units comprising a combined 484 megawatt (MW) generating capacity, an eight-mile transmission line and associated infrastructure. The project will be built adjacent to the City of Blythe in Riverside County, California and is expected to create over 1,000 construction jobs and approximately 80 operations jobs. The plant is estimated to avoid over 710,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions from over 123,000 vehicles.
“Loan guarantees play an important role in facilitating the development and deployment of innovative technologies at massive scope and scale,” said Secretary Chu. “Continued investments like this project make solar power more efficient and cost competitive while creating thousands of jobs and strengthening the economy.”
“California is the national leader in clean energy, and our great state is poised to become the world leader in renewable energy generation,” said Governor Jerry Brown. “I commend President Obama and Secretary Chu for making another major investment in California.”
“This clean energy project will create more than 1,000 jobs and strengthen the economy of Riverside County. Investments like this one are critical to reducing America’s dangerous dependence on foreign oil, protecting our children from pollution and creating clean energy jobs here in California,” said Senator Barbara Boxer.
Solar Millennium’s U.S. Units File for Bankruptcy Protection
U.S. units of Solar Millennium AG (S2M), the maker of solar thermal power plants undergoing insolvency proceedings in Germany, filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors and plan to sell some businesses.
Solar Millennium Inc., based in Oakland, California, Solar Trust of America LLC and other units listed assets of less than $100 million and debt of as much as $500 million in Chapter 11 papers filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware.
The parent company “has ceased to provide any funding whatsoever” since its insolvency, the U.S. chief operating officer, Edward Kleinschmidt, said in court papers.
Solar Millennium is building one of the largest solar arrays in the world on 7,000 acres in Riverside County near Blythe, California, he said.
The company joins Energy Conversion Devices Inc., a U.S. solar manufacturer that suspended production last year; LSP Energy LP, the owner of a natural-gas-fired power plant in Mississippi; Ener1 Inc., maker of lithium-ion batteries for plug-in electric cars; solar-panel maker Solyndra LLC; and energy storage company Beacon Power Corp. (BCONQ) in bankruptcy.
The main case is In re Solar Trust of America LLC, 12-11136, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).
I’d like to know who gets the 2.1 billion dollars that was guaranteed?? Follow the money~