Beyond Solyndra; No Relief in Paducah; Olives or Coal?

Beacon power

THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY IS TURNING A PROFIT TODAY ON A CLEAN-ENERGY LOAN PROGRAM that was under political duress three years ago from the scandal surrounding the solar-panel company Solyndra.

NPR this morning has a detailed piece describing how the program is working to strong effect now.

A key passage: “The agency has loaned $34.2 billion to a variety of businesses under a program designed to speed up development of clean-energy technology. Companies have defaulted on $780 million of that—a loss rate of 2.28 percent. The agency also has collected $810 million in interest payments, putting the program $30 million in the black.”

The story notes that Congress, when it created the program in 2005, did not see it as profit generator, putting $10 billion aside to cover losses. Today’s article, by Jeff Brady, describes an initiative that is flush with capital, having $40 billion to lend over the next few years.

Excerpts:

  •  “Now that the loan program is turning a profit, those critics are silent. They either declined or ignored NPR’s requests for comment.”
  • “Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz wants to change people’s perception of his agency’s loan program.”
  • “‘It literally kick-started the whole utility-scale photovoltaic industry,’ Moniz says. The program funded the first of five huge solar projects in the West. Moniz says before that, developers couldn’t get money from private lenders. But now, with proven business models, they can.”

Here’s the full clip and transcript.

THE PADUCAH-SUN STAYS WITH THE PRAIRIE ENERGY CAMPUS STORY this morning with reporting about how Paducah Power System (PPS) is responding to a community uprising against the high electricity rates born of PPS expensive long-term deal with Prairie State.

The bottom line is encapsulated in the headline “No Power Rate Relief Seen Before Next July” over an article by David Zoeller.

Excerpts:

  • (PPS Interim General Manager Mark) Crisson called the plan approved Wednesday ‘an important first step.’”
  •  ‘We’re not taking anything off the table,’ Crisson said.
  • “That includes responding to an ongoing open records request from local attorney Mark Bryant regarding how the decision to invest in Prairie State was arrived at.”
  • “‘We’ll even take a look at the issue of bankruptcy,’ Crisson said.”

Here’s the full article (subscription required).

 

THE GUARDIAN REPORTS ON A TURKISH COURT ORDER THAT BARS CONSTRUCTION OF A COAL-FIRED PLANT IN AN OLIVE GROVE.

The key passage in the article, filed by Agence France-Presse: “The case has generated huge interest Turkey, where it has highlighted difficulties in balancing the government’s dream of making the country a top global economy with protecting a fragile environment and heritage.”

It pulls from a report by the Turkish Hurriyet Daily, which offers this additional detail:

  • “Kolin İnşaat, the energy firm that felled around 6,000 olive trees in the Aegean village of Yırca last week for the construction of a planned coal power plant, laid off some 100 personnel after a Council of State decision halted the project.”
  •  “They made us come here by giving us a guarantee of work and even retirement. They made us attack the villagers. We were used [by the company]. Now we will stay here until we get fair [treatment],” one of the security officers reportedly said while refusing to leave the site.”

The full Guardian article is here. The full Hurriyet Daily article is here.

— Karl Cates
kcates@ieefa.org
Twitter @ieefa_institute

Categories: Prairie State Energy Campus, Press, Solar, Wraps

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