A big solar power plant project that received over a billion dollars in federal financing is on its way to closure, with energy experts calling it a “boondoggle” that harms the environment.
Former President Barack Obama’s US Department of Energy (DOE) offered $1.6 billion in loan guarantees in 2011 to fund the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, a green energy project in California that includes three solar concentrating thermal power plants.
The plant was hailed by then-Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz as a “example of how America is becoming a world leader in solar energy.” But, after ten years, the federally subsidized facility is set to close.
“Ivanpah is yet another failed green energy boondoggle, much like Solyndra,” Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, said in a statement to HeadlinesForever Digital. “Despite receiving $1.6 billion in federal loan guarantees, it never lived up to its promises, producing less electricity than expected while still relying on natural gas to stay operational.”
“Now, with its power contracts canceled, Ivanpah stands as a testament to the waste and inefficiency of government-subsidized energy schemes,” Isaac told the crowd.
Ivanpah is made up of three independent units, two of which were contracted by Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) in 2009 and are set to operate until 2039.
In January, PG&E announced plans to cancel its deal with Ivanpah 14 years early, deciding that “ending the agreements at this time will save customers money compared to the cost of keeping them through 2039” – thus putting Ivanpah on notice to close.
“The Ivanpah plant was a financial boondoggle and an environmental disaster,” Julia Dowell of the Sierra Club, an environmental activist organization, said of the project.
“Along with killing thousands of birds and tortoises, the project’s construction destroyed irreplaceable pristine desert habitat along with numerous rare plant species,” according to Dowell. “While the Sierra Club strongly supports innovative clean energy solutions and recognizes the urgent need to transition away from fossil fuels, Ivanpah demonstrated that not all renewable technologies are created equal.”
This comes after another DOE-funded green energy startup, Solyndra, declared bankruptcy in 2011 after receiving $535 million in federal loan guarantees from the Obama administration.
“Green projects have a long history of expensive taxpayer-subsidized disaster, which is becoming more so,” Steve Milloy, senior fellow at the Energy & Environmental Legal Institute and former Trump EPA transition team member, said in a statement to Fox.
Milloy noted that further green energy failures might result from initiatives supported by recent Democratic-backed legislation aimed at advancing the green energy agenda.
“We will soon be dealing with failures of a higher scale than Green New Deal investment. “No green project that relies on taxpayer subsidies has ever made economic or environmental sense,” Milloy stated. “It’s important that President Trump stop the taxpayer bleeding by ending what he accurately calls the Green New Scam.”