Solar Power on the Taxpayers’ Dime

Mike Brownfield / April 20, 2011

Someone should really tell the Department of Energy (DOE) about the federal government’s spending crisis.

On Monday, it granted a $2.1 billion loan guarantee to a German developer to help finance a 1,000 megawatt solar thermal power plant in Southern California. But wait, there’s more.

Add to that a $1.6 billion loan guarantee for another plant in California’s Mojave Desert, a $1.2 billion loan guarantee for one in San Luis Obispo County, Calif., and $967 million for a location in Arizona, all since February, according to a Forbes.com report. That’s nearly $6 billion in taxpayer dollars to back up private industry’s green energy ventures.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. (more…)