DOE Defends Its List Of 38

CNBC is reporting:

The Department of Energy's loan guarantee program for alternative energy companies has been hit by some high-profile failures. 

Yet the agency is sticking by its guns, even as the overall green sector comes under scrutiny, and critics insist the government should not play the role of green venture capitalists.

Last week, the DoE admitted a recipient of a $50 million green loan-Michigan-based Vehicle Production Group-would cost the government $42 million. VPG was forced to lay off hundreds in February, after paying back only $5 million of what the DoE lent it.
Since its creation in 2005, the $34 billion lending program has provided 33 companies with government financing for alternative energy projects. The program has had some high-profile successes. It's helped set up 13 solar energy firms that are actively selling power into the grid.

But failed start-ups -namely Solyndra, Fisker Automotive and First Solar, which all received funds from the green lending program-have left taxpayers in the red. 

For the "list of 38" click here. 

The interesting thing is that CNBC is missing the bigger story here. Incumbent party sends funds to start-ups -- > CEOs donate money to incumbent party. There's a term for this.

Here We Go Again: Rope-A-Dope

Syria moving chemical weapons BACK to Iraq.

Another One Bites The Dust

The Denver Post is reporting:

Aleo Solar AG, a German-based PV module manufacturer and developer, said Friday that it is withdrawing from the U.S. market and dissolving Aleo Solar North America, based in Denver.

In a short statement, the company said the move was triggered by the fact that despite a year-on-year increase in sales, the company's operations in the United States failed to meet recent sales targets.

It said its U.S. operations were not operating profitably.

Note: German.

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Naysayers won't have time to read this, but this is probably the best first-person story ever written explaining why single home solar energy will never work. [Note: "never" = in my investing lifetime.]

Fun

If you want to have a bit of fun whiling away a leisurely Sunday, zoom in on the highway between Williston, North Dakota, and Watford City, North Dakota. Use the satellite view and drill down as much as you can just to see all the truck traffic. It really is quite remarkable.

Also, note the new complex at the 13-mile corner north of Williston.

Update On The Four-Lane Highway Being Built From Watford City To Williston

The Bismarck Tribune is reporting:

It's an upside-down world in the oil patch, when spending millions of dollars to acquire land to widen highways seems like chump change indeed.

The state Department of Transportation has embarked on a huge project, turning U.S. Highway 85, a notorious death trap, into a much safer four-lane corridor from Watford City to Williston. It's a distance of about 46 miles and about 7,000 semi trucks.

The cost of the project is estimated at $300 million, the single largest project in terms of dollars the department has undertaken in its history.

Included in that enormous price tag is the cost of buying land from adjacent landowners in a region where property values have absolutely skyrocketed.

It's a new situation for the DOT, which for decades has maintained highways, not built them.

"We haven't acquired this much right-of-way since the '50s," said Bob Fode, DOT's director of project development.

The DOT is paying an average $22,000 an acre, or roughly $140,000 a mile for what amounts to about 20 feet on either side of the existing highway. That buys enough room to expand from two to four lanes with an interior median.