More Green Energy “Good News” for US Taxpayers
Recently, Spanish “green” energy giant Abengoa went bankrupt. For Abengoa’s stockholders, that’s unfortunate.
It’s also unfortunate for US taxpayers.
Why, you ask? After all, isn’t Abengoa a foreign corporation?
Well, yes it is. But it also seems that Abengoa was a major recipient of the current US Administration’s “green energy” irresponsible and wasteful giveaways financial incentives. Since 2010, they received approximately $2.7 billion in US subsidies – in the form of DoE loan guarantees.
In fact, Abengoa is presently the single largest creditor of the Treasury Department’s Federal Financing Bank (FFB). They currently owe the FFB $2.34 billion. No word on who loaned them the other $360 million.
That’s not all. Abengoa also appears to have received an additional $605 million in tax credits and “green energy” grants – over and above their loan guarantees.
Abengoa took the money, all right – while running up a total corporate debt of around $17 billion. But their production – financial or actual – doesn’t seem to have exactly been stellar. One of their star projects was a massive biofuel plant in the US that has yet to announce production levels or sell any products. In fairness, Abengoa did indeed pay off the loan associated with that project – a loan that had been guaranteed by the US government. But they elected to do so “from other revenues”, not from the proceeds of biofuel sales. In fact, they paid of the loan before ever selling a drop of biofuel produced by the facility. Any biofuels produced at that facility are apparently still all stored at the facility – or were at the time the loan was repaid.
But hey – what’s $3.305 billion between friends, eh? It’s all “for the cause”. Its “saving the planet”!
Yeah, right. “Scam designed to enrich a select few” sounds far more like what’s going on here.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m in favor of basic research on how to make energy production cleaner and more efficient. “Cleaner” is definitely good; add “more efficient” and eventually that translates into “economically viable clean energy sources”. Mankind does have the responsibility to be a good caretaker for planet Earth – if for no other reason than self-preservation.
But regarding economically-viable “green” energy: in general we’re simply not there today. I do have a problem with a group of conceited fools in DC thinking that they can order the laws of physics, engineering, and economics to change overnight simply because they say so. And I have a huge problem with those same arrogant fools p!ssing away literally billions of the US taxpayer’s money in a Quixotic effort to do just that.
Oh, and it turns out that Abengoa might not be the only “hit” the taxpayer takes on the “green energy company goes belly-up” ledger this year.
Another huge player in the current Administration’s “green energy subsidy giveaway scams games” may well declare bankruptcy soon. That would be SunEdison – which has received nearly $650 million in Federal “green energy” subsidies and tax credits. They’re the 13th most heavily subsidized corporation in the US. And they are facing a serious liquidity crisis that many experts expect will force them to declare bankruptcy.
Hmm. First Solyndra. Then Abound Solar. Then Abengoa. Now, possibly, SunEdison.
I’m seeing a couple of trends here. The first trend isn’t any indication that economically viable green energy is “just around the corner”. And the second indication isn’t that the Administration’s officials managing the Administration’s solar giveaway sweepstakes seem to know their butts from a hole in the ground.
Category: "Teh Stoopid", "The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves", "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Global Warming
What will we see next? I also wonder how much was “donated” to B. Hussein 0bama & Company for them to get that nice of a kickback.
Here’s an idea: if you’re a foreigner who rips off the US taxpayer, obviously we probably can’t lock you up. What we can do, however, is send a few Obamadrones your way with Hellfires hanging under the wings. You get a set amount of time to pay back the money you took, otherwise you better hide DEEP underground. Because the moment you crawl out from under your rock, we will make an example of you. Not only will we put that missile up your ass, we will put the footage up on YouTube for all to see, with a clear explanation of how you fucked up. I don’t think we would need to make too many examples.
In Vermont we have some Green Energy products.
Wind turbines that don’t turn and solar panels that don’t work with our limited sunshine. The secret came out that the corporation’s that own them can sell the federal green energy credits to other states like Mass and N.Y.
Ah, Vermontistan. Shut down VY and try to make it up with solar panels and 400kw (yeah, you read that right, KW) micro hydro.
You think your electricity is expensive now? Just wait.
We’ve got the same thing in Michigan, Sapper. A wind farm near St. Louis, Mi. and a just opened solar panel farm west of Grand Rapids. Most days, very few of the turbines are turning, and I doubt that the solar farm will generate what the owners claim, with the cloudy days that we have in 3 of the 4 seasons.
Man, if I’d known ripping off the government was this easy, I’d have started a LONG time ago.
Why am I not surprised by any of this?
I haven’t really noticed any gas stations selling biofuels, with the exception of Speedway, and they also sell the flex-fuel stuff.
But you’ll all be pleased to know that an unusually cool April has suppressed tornado weather this year, per Accuweather.
Well, we’ll never get that money back, and someone else will have to deal with it. And does anyone besides me think that maybe China is building those islands in the South China Sea as places where they can offload drilling platform equipment and store it? I only ask, because they’re claiming drilling rights in that area and they’re the most polluted county on the planet right now.
Virtually every gas station in the US sells biofuels, Ex-PH2. Look at the sticker on damn near every pump that says “Contains Ethanol”.
You’re right, Hondo. I was thinking of biodiesel, which is a specific biofuel.
I make a pretty decent living off of fulfilling those mandates from on high.
As a wise man once told me, “Chaos equals cash!”
This is a 2013 article about the real consequences of this push to develop biofuels.
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-secret-dirty-cost-of-obamas-green-power-push-2013-11
If the erosion shown in that 2013 photo is that bad, by now it’s worse.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m in favor of basic research on how to make energy production cleaner and more efficient. “Cleaner” is definitely good; add “more efficient” and eventually that translates into “economically viable clean energy sources”. Mankind does have the responsibility to be a good caretaker for planet Earth – if for no other reason than self-preservation.
In the end I think most reasonable people must agree with this comment.
I also agree that where it comes off the rails is trying to make something that’s marketability is not viable and then try forcing the market to accept something that doesn’t quite work. No one wants to spend more money for less efficiency than they currently have no matter how potentially noble the cause.
Most people want to spend less and gain efficiency. We haven’t walked on the moon in 43 years….we’ve done nothing to really challenge ourselves to step up and press forward with renewable energy sources and identify areas of research.
I know a great many people who don’t much care about NASA, but it was a way for our country to direct research in areas that would benefit the nation both economically and strategically. Pretending the private markets will research obscure tech potential for profit isn’t realistic. Trying to prop up private research without a directive isn’t helpful either.
Countries often fund research because the nation benefits, what they shouldn’t do is attempt to fund market or marketability. Fund the research through directed grants similar to how we resolved many of the challenges inherent in producing the most complicated piece of machinery to ever leave our atmosphere and the future is once again ours.
Finance private industry without oversight and the future is very grim indeed.
I agree. I want a more efficient furnace, because it will lower my gas bill. Meantime, the repair job, replacing the blower motor, has it running like a brand-new machine and my gas has dropped already.
The switch to unleaded gas from leaded gas has produced tangible results. No one denies that.
My objection is to the panic-attack howling about all the other stuff, which turns out to be specious in many cases, and the tangible results (unnecessary debt) that we have to swallow.
I presume you meant “trying to prop up private research without a direction or goal . . . ” vice ” without a directive . . . “, VOV.
A directive is synonymous to “by command”. I’d argue that we’ve been seeing attempts at propping up private research “by directive” in the “green energy” field (i.e., by government order and action) for the past 7 years. IMO we’ve seen it through stupidity similar to that discussed here – i.e., ill-advised requirements to use products that are counterproductive, economically and engergy-wise, coupled with subsidies that make no economic sense whatsoever.
Yep, you are correct…problem with auto correct is as long as the word is spelled correctly whether it is appropriately used is irrelevant at the moment….I am not looking for the government to force research but to guide it into areas of benefit and interest….for me much of how NASA worked until we lost the first shuttle was along those lines…they were the best and brightest and working with others who were the best and brightest across the nation in private industry, universities, etc…
That challenge to accomplish that goal appeared to be us at our best when it worked out and when we actually drove a dune buggy on the moon it was a complete expression of the US at the top of the food chain and on the edge of the future…and then we just squandered that and let it drift away…for a budget that was nothing compared to the entitlements and what they’ve become….
There is so much of this going on and we are powerless to stop it. Big Pharma, Insurance…The number of clients I have seen making oodles of money around the RTP here is crazy. Youngsters. They game the system with all kinds of government “waste” and grants and we see nothing productive. How about that little girl who runs Theranos? Value of company at 9 billion? And now we hear Fraud? I could go on and on. We’re all in big trouble.
Ethanol is a wreck. It can easily destroy an engine and as for the lowering of the smog quotient, most of that is the switch to Electronic fuel injection.
Getting rid of so many out of tune carburetors has significantly dropped the particulate matter exiting the tailp[ipe.
As an added bonus it has also led to the super extended range of today’s engines. It used to be that 100K miles was the end of the car, today many cars are still on the road with well over 200K miles. I have owned several that made it to over 250K with no significant engine problems.
Carbs dumped fuel into the cylinders and EFI meters it. Along with catalytic converters and computer control of the engines cars today emit less than 10% of the smog that they used to choke out 20 years ago.
Ethanol takes something like 10 gallons of pure fresh water for every one gallon of ethanol.
It works great for racing fuel, but that is in a very high priced engine that is built specifically for that kind of fuel.
If we went to CNG or LPG, our cars would run still cleaner and the costs would continue to drop on oil.
There is now a new home made Hydrogen fuel cell where you pour in water and get hydrogen to run your auto with.
Salt based nuclear reactors are also being developed that can be buried in the back yard and provide enough electricity to run any home for a hundred years and still have enough power to sell back to the electric company.
The green revolution is supported by government and their favorite political donors. People like Algore (He served in Vietnam, you know), Michale Moore and a long list of corporate crony’s like GE and a thousand others.
The green revolution is the biggest fraud ever visited on the American public.
The biggest strides will be made by the guy experimenting in his garage and not by corporate fatcats tied into specific political dynasties…