Huge Obama-Backed "Green" Project Goes Bust -- Add One More To The List -- July 31, 2020

Two of the best posts ever regarding the reality of "green" / renewable energy in the US were:

• January 12, 2017; which linked the original post;
• the original post of August 26, 2015

The posts contained the very long list of failed "green" / renewable energy projects which were backed by the Obama administration and paid for with our tax dollars. It was a huge waste of money in the minds of many, but I'm still convinced that was one of the best money-laundering schemes ever devised to move money from taxpayers to the president's political campaign. #BlackLiveMatter has taken a page from that playbook. But I digress.

At the two links above, one can see the list of failed "green" projects.

Add one of the largest to the list: Tonopah Solar Energy LLC. From Reuters:

The owner of a big Nevada solar-thermal power plant that received $737 million in loans from the U.S. Department of Energy filed for bankruptcy on Thursday, according to a court filing, potentially leaving U.S. taxpayers with a whopping bill.

The project’s failure is a blow to the DOE renewable energy loan program, which had already been criticized by Republicans as a waste of money after it backed failed solar panel maker Solyndra during the Obama administration.

Tonopah Solar Energy LLC still owes $425 million on its DOE loan, but reached a settlement under which the department will recover at least $200 million, it said in court documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.

The deal is subject to court approval.

In a statement, DOE spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes said the settlement decision “was made after years of exhausting options within our authority to get the project back on track.”

A senior Trump administration official said the settlement “secures taxpayer money that was squandered by the previous administrations’ failed energy pet projects.” 

I don't recall ever seeing a Reuters article describing an Obama failed project resulting in a whopping bill for US taxpayers.

That alone tells me how big a deal this was.

Tonopah is owned by SolarReserve, the startup that developed the plant, Cobra Energy Investments LLC, a division of Spanish infrastructure company ACS, and Banco Santander SA, according to court papers.

Tonopah’s 110-megawatt plant in the Nevada desert was billed as the first to be able to store solar energy. But its technology, which uses more than 10,000 mirrors to focus the sun’s heat on a tower to create steam, was both unreliable and expensive.

Soon after it began operating in 2015, the facility suffered a string of leaks in its hot salt tank, a key component of its energy storage system. It has not operated since April of 2019. 

I recall posting many links to many articles about this failed project. 

I had forgotten the Spanish connection.

One wonders if the land will be reclaimed and returned to its natural state, or if the bankruptcy deal will allow the owner to try to get the project back on track.

I've updated the previous posts to include Tonopah / SolarReserve.

Just think, if the country is crazy enough to put the Obama administration back in power this November, 2020, we can re-live these debacles all over again.

This is the new list (I assume there are further updates or companies I missed):

• Tonopah Solar Energy LLC / Solar Reserve ($737 million) -- added July 30, 2020; 
• Evergreen Solar ( Lost $25 million)
• SpectraWatt ( Lost $500,000)
• Solyndra ( Lost $535 million)
• Beacon Power ( Lost $43 million)
• Nevada Geothermal ( Lost $98.5 million)
• SunPower ( Lost $1.2 billion)
• First Solar ( Lost $1.46 billion)
• Babcock and Brown ( Lost $178 million)
• EnerDel’s subsidiary Ener1 ( Lost $118.5 million)
• Amonix ( Lost $5.9 million)
• Fisker Automotive ( Lost $529 million)
• Abound Solar ( Lost $400 million)
• A123 Systems ( Lost $279 million)
• Willard and Kelsey Solar Group ( Lost $700,981)
• Johnson Controls ( Lost $299 million)
• Brightsource ( Lost $1.6 billion)
• ECOtality ( Lost $126.2 million)
• Raser Technologies ( Lost $33 million)
• Energy Conversion Devices ( Lost $13.3 million)
• Mountain Plaza, Inc. ( Lost $2 million)
• Olsen’s Crop Service and Olsen’s Mills Acquisition Company ( Lost $10 million)
• Range Fuels ( Lost $80 million)
• Thompson River Power ( Lost $6.5 million)
• Stirling Energy Systems ( Lost $7 million)
• Azure Dynamics ( Lost $5.4 million)
• GreenVolts ( Lost $500,000)
• Vestas ( Lost $50 million)
• LG Chem’s subsidiary Compact Power ( Lost $151 million)
• Nordic Windpower ( Lost $16 million)
• Navistar ( Lost $39 million)
• Satcon ( Lost $3 million)
• Konarka Technologies Inc. ( Lost $20 million)
• Mascoma Corp. ( Lost $100 million)

One wonders if we should add the Brown Bullet Train to the list? In terms of dollars lost, I think the BBT would be head and shoulders above the rest.

For other posts on this solar energy project, click on "Solyndra" or use the search engine to search for "Tonopah."

Updating: Solyndra Slush Fund List; And The Obama Definition Of "Permanent" -- February 19, 2020

********************************

Flashback: Solyndra

Solyndra slush fund list.

See this link.

Earlier:

February 6, 2020: Crescent Dunes, $737-million-backed by the federal government; solar company in Nevada declares bankruptcy. Link here. Solyndra: $535 million. Crescent Dunes lost its only customer; suffered a catastrophic technology failure -- can't even produce any electricity.

And even earlier, from the Las Vegas Review Journal (I don't expect this to come up during tonight's debate):

Do readers remember the Crescent Dunes solar power plant in Tonopah? The project commenced some 10 years ago and was financed in part with a $737 million federal loan guarantee.

Nevada Energy fully supported the project, promising to buy power at a rate almost six times as high as the market at the time. At the same time, the company was destroying Nevada’s residential solar businesses by pushing through a measure to reduce the “buyback” of energy generated by households to less than one-sixth of the going rate.

How is the Crescent Dunes doing? It ceased operations in April. The three-quarters of a billion dollars of federal guaranteed loans have been eaten by us taxpayers, and the Department of Energy is trying to decide what to do with this albatross.

The "boondoggle" served its purpose: slush fund for funneling money (political donations from CEO, board members) to political parties and candidates -- don't cry for me, Argentina). 

For more on "Tonopah," click here.

How many remember that genius, Steven Chu?

From the blog, September 28, 2011:

Link here.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the department has completed a $737 million loan guarantee to Tonopah Solar Energy for a 110 megawatt solar tower on federal land near Tonopah, Nev., and a $337 million guarantee for Mesquite Solar 1 to develop a 150 megawatt solar plant near Phoenix.

The two projects will create about 52 permanent jobs, Chu said.

I can't make this stuff up: more than $1 billion in guaranteed loans for 52 permanent jobs.

Part of the $800 billion stimulus program that President Obama now says is responsible for the Trump economy.

$737 million loan guarantee. 52 permanent jobs. Permanent if "permanent" is defined as less than a decade.

***************************************

On Social Media Today

What Is Kraken Doing With Some Old Kaiser-Francis Wells In The Sanish? -- February 6, 2020

A few wells in the Sanish previously operated by Kaiser-Francis, now operated by Kraken, are updated. These are incredibly awful wells, especially considering that they are in the Sanish oil field. Most, if not almost all, of the wells have been taken off-line.

I don't see any active drilling or active fracking in the area. One wonders if Kraken has taken these wells off line while they figure out what to do next.

********************************

Flashback: Solyndra

Solyndra slush fund list.

See this link.

Now this:

February 6, 2020: Crescent Dunes, $737-million-backed by the federal government; solar company in Nevada declares bankruptcy. Link here. Solyndra: $535 million. Crescent Dunes lost its only customer; suffered a catastrophic technology failure -- can't even produce any electricity. 

Flashback: Solyndra -- March 21, 2019, T+78, Part 1

Solyndra.

Ten years ago today, President Barack Obama gave the Solyndra solar panel company $535 million of Energy Department loan guarantees as part of his economic stimulus program, Sandra Smith reported on "America's Newsroom."

"The true engines of economic growth will always be companies like Solyndra," Obama said of the California company at the time.

Then-Energy Secretary Steven Chu also heralded the taxpayer funding for easy-to-install solar panels.

Looking back on the failed investment, Smith played video clips of Solyndra's early days, with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.) breaking ground on part of the company's property.

Smith said that just days after the ensuing 2010 midterms, Solyndra filed for bankruptcy and finally went under in 2011, taking with it the half-billion taxpayer dollars and hundreds of jobs.

Two words: money laundering.

***************************************

Overheard At Starbucks This Morning

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or what you think you may have read here.

Art Berman: besides not understanding tight oil, Art apparently doesn't understand free market capitalism; hasn't read the latest news on Exxon-$15-Permian; and may be unaware of the "illegality" of cartels in the US. Just saying.

First things first, a mash-up:

Pretty Woman, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison
The market: best market ever for investors -- especially those in energy -- what's not to like? Let's count the reasons --

• the Fed is spooked; Jerome Powell throws in the towel on rate increases [later, Jim Cramer agrees; says Jay Powell made a "rookie mistake." LOL.
• Trump is in control: the only thing holding back the market, now that the Fed has quit raising rates (maybe one more) are the tariffs on Chinese trade -- and Trump alone will decide when
• the market is clearly climbing the wall of worry
• huge upgrade for AAPL today; shares jump almost $4.00; movers and shakers took advantage of recent AAPL sale, I'm sure
• jobs: unemployment claims fall more than expected; first time unemployment claims drop 9,000; link here. 

Intelligent animals: I see there's another article today about how smart animals are, an article on an anteater using a tool or something .. [later, right on cue, bears communicate like humans ... what a bunch of crap ....National Geographic also had a submerged Statue of Liberty due to rising oceans/global warming ---]....


Apparently a whole cottage industry ...

Solyndra Was Just One Of (At Least) 36 -- August 26, 2015

Updates

February 6, 2020: Crescent Dunes, $737-million-backed by the federal government; solar company in Nevada declares bankruptcy. Link here. Solyndra: $535 million. Crescent Dunes lost its only customer; suffered a catastrophic technology failure -- can't even produce any electricity. Also here.

March 11, 2017: add Acquion. 

January 12, 2017: in the comments section at this post, a reader provided an updated list:

• Tonopah Solar Energy LLC / Solar Reserve ($737 million) -- added July 30, 2020; 
• Evergreen Solar ( Lost $25 million)
• SpectraWatt ( Lost $500,000)
• Solyndra ( Lost $535 million)
• Beacon Power ( Lost $43 million)
• Nevada Geothermal ( Lost $98.5 million)
• SunPower ( Lost $1.2 billion)
• First Solar ( Lost $1.46 billion)
• Babcock and Brown ( Lost $178 million)
• EnerDel’s subsidiary Ener1 ( Lost $118.5 million)
• Amonix ( Lost $5.9 million)
• Fisker Automotive ( Lost $529 million)
• Abound Solar ( Lost $400 million)
• A123 Systems ( Lost $279 million)
• Willard and Kelsey Solar Group ( Lost $700,981)
• Johnson Controls ( Lost $299 million)
• Brightsource ( Lost $1.6 billion)
• ECOtality ( Lost $126.2 million)
• Raser Technologies ( Lost $33 million)
• Energy Conversion Devices ( Lost $13.3 million)
• Mountain Plaza, Inc. ( Lost $2 million)
• Olsen’s Crop Service and Olsen’s Mills Acquisition Company ( Lost $10 million)
• Range Fuels ( Lost $80 million)
• Thompson River Power ( Lost $6.5 million)
• Stirling Energy Systems ( Lost $7 million)
• Azure Dynamics ( Lost $5.4 million)
• GreenVolts ( Lost $500,000)
• Vestas ( Lost $50 million)
• LG Chem’s subsidiary Compact Power ( Lost $151 million)
• Nordic Windpower ( Lost $16 million)
• Navistar ( Lost $39 million)
• Satcon ( Lost $3 million)
• Konarka Technologies Inc. ( Lost $20 million)
• Mascoma Corp. ( Lost $100 million) 

Original Post

 

It is amazing that out of the dozens of companies that were in the news from the very beginning, "we" picked up on Solyndra immediately. 

The blog is full of Solyndra stories right from the start (see tag). It turns out "we" were correct all along.

Taxpayer money to Solyndra; CEO and directors donate to DNC; Solyndra goes by the wayside after the election. At the same time Lois and the IRS targets Tea Party groups ensuring they are not given tax-free status and the rest is history as they say.

The Obama Administration admits Solyndra was a "scam." Not in so many words, but that's the nut. The actual words are here in the full report, a PDF file.

The interesting thing is that Solyndra was not the only scam. I doubt many folks remember this post and the list of 36 companies that received federal support from taxpayers have either gone bankrupt or are laying off workers and are heading for bankruptcy. This list includes only those companies that received federal money from the Obama Administration’s Department of Energy.

The amount of money indicated does not reflect how much was actually received or spent but how much was offered. The amount also does not include other state, local, and federal tax credits and subsidies, which push the amount of money these companies have received from taxpayers even higher.

The complete list of faltering or bankrupt green-energy companies:

1. Evergreen Solar ($24 million)*
2. SpectraWatt ($500,000)*
3. Solyndra ($535 million)*
4. Beacon Power ($69 million)* -- see "update/correction" below
5. AES’s subsidiary Eastern Energy ($17.1 million) -- see "update/correction" below
6. Nevada Geothermal ($98.5 million)
7. SunPower ($1.5 billion)
8. First Solar ($1.46 billion)
9. Babcock and Brown ($178 million)
10. EnerDel’s subsidiary Ener1 ($118.5 million)*
11. Amonix ($5.9 million)
12. National Renewable Energy Lab ($200 million)
13. Fisker Automotive ($528 million)
14. Abound Solar ($374 million)*
15. A123 Systems ($279 million)*
16. Willard and Kelsey Solar Group ($6 million) -- see "update/correction" below
17. Johnson Controls ($299 million)
18. Schneider Electric ($86 million) -- see "update/correction" below
19. Brightsource ($1.6 billion)
20. ECOtality ($126.2 million)
21. Raser Technologies ($33 million)*
22. Energy Conversion Devices ($13.3 million)*
23. Mountain Plaza, Inc. ($2 million)*
24. Olsen’s Crop Service and Olsen’s Mills Acquisition Company ($10 million)*
25. Range Fuels ($80 million)*
26. Thompson River Power ($6.4 million)*
27. Stirling Energy Systems ($7 million)*
28. LSP Energy ($2.1 billion)* -- see "update/correction" below
29. UniSolar ($100 million)* -- see "update/correction" below
30. Azure Dynamics ($120 million)* -- see "update/correction" below
31. GreenVolts ($500,000)
32. Vestas ($50 million)
33. LG Chem’s subsidiary Compact Power ($150 million) -- see "correction" below
34. Nordic Windpower ($16 million)*
35. Navistar ($10 million)
36. Satcon ($3 million)*
37. Nissan Leaf battery facility, Smyrna, TN (see November 15, 2012, update above) 
38. Twin Creeks Technologies, Senatobia, MS ($26  million)* (see November 30, 2012, update above) 
39. Abengoa, Madrid, Spain; added April 16, 2016; bankrupt; largest bankruptcy in Spain's history;  
40. Tonopah Solar Energy LLC / Solar Reserve ($737 million) -- added July 30, 2020; 

* Indicates filed for bankruptcy.

Note: the list came from another source; not all links were fact-checked. Much has been lost since the list was originally published. I can no longer vouch for the accuracy of the list, but it gets the point across to anyone paying attention. If this is important to you, go to the original source, at the post linked above.

Solyndra Back In The News -- April 28, 2015

Fox News is reporting:

It’s official, the Energy Department’s green energy loan program is actually expected to lose money despite media reports that such loans would net the government a profit.

The Government Accountability Office says the DOE’s oft-touted $28 billion loan program will cost taxpayers $2.21 billion over the lifetime of the loans. Not only that, the costs to taxpayers for green loans has risen about $500 million as “the result of loan guarantee defaults” from companies like Solyndra and Abound Solar.

The “credit subsidy cost of the loans and loan guarantees in its portfolio” is expected “to be $2.21 billion, including $807 million for loans that have defaulted,” GAO reports. “The fees DOE has collected have not been sufficient to cover all of its administrative expenses for the program” because the “fees on the current loan guarantees were too low to cover ongoing monitoring costs.”

This stands in sharp contrast to media reports from last year suggesting the DOE’s green loan program would net taxpayers $5 billion. Last year, the Washington Post’s Wonkblog ran with the headline, “Remember Solyndra? Those loans are making money.”

The liberal news watchdog Media Matters exclaimed that “Solyndra Scandal-Mongering Hasn’t Stopped The Energy Dept’s Loan Program From Turning A Profit”

Such news stories came after a November 2014 DOE progress report saying it was on track to earn more than $5 billion in total interest payments. The DOE said it had earned $810 million in interest payments — outweighing the $780 million in estimated losses the loan program was expected to incur.

But for Obama, Solyndra accomplished what it was set up to do.

Modern Political Money Laundering -- December 29, 2014

An Opinion Piece

I am not alleging any wrong-doing or any illegal activity

Everybody does it 

This is the way I imagine modern political money laundering is accomplished:

1. People who have the correct credentials, such as a Ph.D. from Yale, or an MBA from Harvard School of Business, AND the golden gift of gab, AND generally have no skeletons in their closet (e.g., pedophile) are given a government grant for a politically correct start-up, such as a battery manufacturing plant or a wind farm or a solar farm or a global warming think tank.

Tower of Song, Leonard Cohen
2. The salaries for the start-up are a) generous, b) guaranteed; c) provided to the CEO and directors; and, d) sourced by the federal government.

3. The start-up is run like any other business entity, but a) IRS audits are not in the cards; and, b) the CEO and directors are expected to contribute heavily to the political party that made it all possible. This is community organizing at its best.

4. The best-known example was Solyndra. Solyndra is the poster child for political money laundering through start-up battery companies. See this post and/or the Solyndra tags at the bottom of the blog.

5. It appears we now have a poster child for solar farms: Ivanpah. See these links:

• Ivanpah, the tortoises -- October 10, 2010
• Ivanpah -- February 13, 2014
• Ivanpah -- February 14, 2014 
• Ivanpah -- October 10, 2014
• Ivanpah -- November 11, 2014
• Ivanpah -- November 17, 2014
• Ivanpah -- November 24, 2014
• Ivanpah -- December 29, 2014
• Ivanpah -- October 19, 2015
• Ivanpah -- March 19, 2016 
• Ivanpah -- forbearance agreements are confidential -- March 30, 2016 
• Ivanpah -- feels the burn -- May 22, 2016 
• Ivanpah -- CFC fries 6,000 birds yearly -- September 2, 2016

And so it goes. 

This Will Make The President Happy: He Gets a Two-Fer; Industry Bids On Less Than 5% Of All Off-Shore Gulf Tracts Offered By Mr Obama; For Investors Only -- Energy Is Surging Today; CLR Continues To Falter

The president can brag that his administration offered up way more leases than operators bid for.

The president can brag that he continues to protect the Gulf from the oil industry.

Depending on which audience he is addressing.

But how bad was it, you ask? It was bad. Really bad.

Mr Obama offered drillers almost 40 million acres off Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

Less than 2 million acres drew bids, and no "block" drew more than six bids. [To put that in perspective, CLR has a million acres in the Bakken -- at least the company "had" a million acres. After the divorce, the number could change.]

But you have to ask yourself: would you bid on federal leases knowing that your permit applications will be slow-rolled. And then, heaven forbid, an oil sheen within a thousand miles of your drilling site.

At the headline, "industry bids for 4.4% of central gulf acres offered," the Oil & Gas Journal is reporting:

A total high bonus of $1.2 billion at Central Gulf of Mexico Sale 227 masked the fact that oil and gas companies made only 407 bids on 320 of the 7,299 blocks offered.

Only 58 blocks drew more than a single bid, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management revealed in sale statistics. The 52 participating companies lodged 131 bids for blocks in 1,600 m of water or more, 78 bids for tracts in 800 m to less than 1,600 m of water, and 85 bids for blocks in less than 200 m of water.

Blocks totaling 1.7 million acres off Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama drew bids even though the government offered 38.6 million acres. No block drew more than six bids.
Shell Offshore Inc. bid high for 38 blocks, Anadarko US Offshore Corp. and ConocoPhillips 30 blocks each, and BHP Billiton Petroleum (Deepwater) Inc. 24 blocks. Statoil Gulf of Mexico LLC and Venari Offshore LLC submitted the high bids on 15 blocks each.

Statoil and Samson Offshore LLC put up the sale’s highest bid of $81.8 million for Walker Ridge Block 271. The block drew only one other bid. ExxonMobil Corp. made the sale’s second highest high bid, offering $66.1 million for Keathley Canyon Block 789.

And so it goes. The president is doing his best to make the nation energy independent. 

A post-script: some days ago it was reported that BP would not be bidding for anything in the Gulf this time around. Can you blame them?

It's possible CVX was on the list above but I didn't see it. It appears CVX trusts The African Congo more than the African-American Obama, reporting at Yahoo!Finance:

Chevron Corporation announced that its subsidiary Chevron Overseas (Congo) Limited will proceed with the joint development of the Moho Bilondo “Phase 1 bis” and Moho Nord projects as the company's latest deepwater developments offshore the Republic of the Congo.

“Moho Nord is among a strong queue of major capital projects that will provide Chevron with future growth,” said George Kirkland, vice chairman, Chevron Corporation. “With the project, we will enhance our position in this prolific deepwater basin.”

Situated approximately 46 miles (75 kilometers) offshore southwest of Pointe-Noire in water depths ranging from 1,500 to 4,000 feet (450-1,200 meters), the Moho-Nord joint development is the largest-ever oil and gas project in the Republic of the Congo. The Moho Bilondo “Phase 1 bis” project includes wells tied back to an existing floating production unit with a processing capacity of 40,000 barrels of oil per day. 

**********************

I doubt if anyone has read this far, but if you have, I'm sure you've connected the dots by now.

Yesterday, it was noted that Mr Obama needs to lease a lot more off-shore oil if he's going to pay for his Solyndra Slush Fund (SSF, aka the nation's Energy Security Trust). It looks like the industry is not really interested in that initiative, having bid on less than 5% of new tracts available for leasing.  For those that want to go to the Oil & Gas Journal article directly, click on this link.

********************

For investors only:

Energy is surging today; CVX blasts through to a new high. ENB up, but not enough for a new high; EPD does blast through to a new high, however. SRE scored a new high.

CLR is down -- what was that saying, "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." That phrase, I see, was written by "another" William.  CLR is just one more example why investing is a crap shoot. One can do all the financial analysis, all the due diligence, and then ... whamm.... Holy Catastrophe! By the way, I've noted the CLR story for a full day or so now; I see Yahoo!Financial/CNBC has finally made it a headline story.

Speaking of BP: just announced -- BP announces an $8 billion stock buyback.  Wow, oil companies must have a lot money. BP will be paying every American before all the lawsuits are over, and they still have cash left over for stock buyback.

Oil company BP said Friday it will buy back $8 billion of shares using money it earned by selling its stake in Russian producer TNK-BP. The announcement came after BP completed the sale of its 50 percent interest in TNK-BP to Moscow-based Rosneft, in a deal that gave it $12.5 billion pounds in cash and a stake in the state-owned oil company. The deal allowed Rosneft, the Russian oil giant, to tighten its grip on the country's lucrative oil industry.

************************

Note to the Granddaughters

The CLR debacle reminds me of a story. Many years ago, when the older daughter was in middle school (maybe younger, I forget) I invested some money in Exxon shares and placed them in her UGMA account. I was quite happy explaining to her how I invested in Exxon for her and what it meant. I doubt she understood a word I was saying.

Within a week of buying those Exxon shares, the infamous Valdez oil spill occurred. I remember the older daughter, your mom, coming home from school that day and asking if the shares I bought were the same company that just destroyed Alaska.

Smile.

[I just checked: the event occurred in 1989; your mom would have been ten years old. So I guess she would have been in 5th grade.]

One Billion Dollars in Loan Guarantees For 52 Permanent Jobs -- Not The Bakken

Link here.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the department has completed a $737 million loan guarantee to Tonopah Solar Energy for a 110 megawatt solar tower on federal land near Tonopah, Nev., and a $337 million guarantee for Mesquite Solar 1 to develop a 150 megawatt solar plant near Phoenix.

The two projects will create about 52 permanent jobs, Chu said.

I can't make this stuff up: more than $1 billion in guaranteed loans for 52 permanent jobs.