From WSJ:
The financial pipeline was cut short before engineers could begin operating the Blythe Solar Power Project, a 1,000-megawatt system with capacity to power 300,000 homes, according to the company.
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The company filed for Chapter 11 protection Monday, the day after it was scheduled to make a $1 million rent payment to the U.S. Department of Interior for the acreage. Company officials said that the bankruptcy case would also protect the transmission-rights agreements it made with utilities.
“Without the [agreements], the Blythe Project would be unable to deliver electricity to market and would be rendered near, if not completely, valueless,” said Chief Operating Officer Edward Kleinschmidt in documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del.
From Reuters,
April 2 (Reuters) – Solar Trust of America LLC, which holds the development rights for the world’s largest solar power project, on Monday filed for bankruptcy protection after its majority owner began insolvency proceedings in Germany.
The Oakland-based company has held rights for the 1,000-megawatt Blythe Solar Power Project in the Southern California desert, which last April won $2.1 billion of conditional loan guarantees from the U.S. Department of Energy. It is unclear how the bankruptcy will affect that project.
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Solar Trust of America and several affiliates filed for protection from creditors with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Delaware. It estimated to have as much as $10 million of assets, and between $50 million and $100 million of liabilities.
Blythe is about 220 miles (354 km) southeast of Los Angeles.
“We have been working with Solar Trust of America for a couple of years in getting this project going,” David Lane, Blythe’s city manager, said in an interview. “Although the project is not in the city limits, we are the only city within 100 miles. My sense is that with the large investment in what was to have been the world’s largest solar power plant, someone somewhere will buy it and build it.”
Here’s the big PR sheet for USDOI: doi_blythe_solar_power_project
Peter says:
April 2, 2012 at 9:13 pm
If you start a bunch of projects, some projects will always fail. However, some projects will succeed…
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Fine I am all for capitalism but sucking down tax payer dollars is not capitalism it is a scam. The rule of thumb is 80% of start-ups fail. Why should I have to risk my capital when I start a small business but these jokers do not.
Speaking of Earth Day and scams, Al Gore celebrated the first Earth Day by promoting Maurice Strong’s Molten Metals Technology Inc (another scam) The stock went up in value Strong sold out and made a bundle. The stock then nose dived and the remaining stockholders sued.
From what I can tell they never tested the idea in a pilot plant but instead build a full scale plant. That alone would tell any chemist it was a scam from the get go. You never ever go from lab bench to building a full size plant. Things can blow up if you do that. (Personal experience as an industrial chemist)
Now the case is even used as a class room study on what NOT to do.
http://special.equisearch.com/downloads/articles/EQMay08MudKnot.pdf
The Campaign Financing Scandal:
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/04/us/panel-to-quiz-clinton-s-96-campaign-chief-on-stock-gift.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
The Lawsuit by investors:
http://securities.stanford.edu/1008/AxlervMoltenMeta/001.html
A House Committee investigation was conducted but the PDF seems to have been removed
http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20040830154236-07181.pdf
Louis says:
April 2, 2012 at 11:41 pm
It seems these green jobs projects are not yet ready for prime time. By rushing these projects out too soon, they may have set green technology back for decades. Who will want to invest their money in future green projects with a track record like this?
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Who the heck is going to be willing to trust scientists again period. Not the American public and not me and I am a chemist. At this point after reading a listing of grants I want to shut down ALL grants by the US government.
kadaka (KD Knoebel) says:
April 3, 2012 at 1:24 am
….Not outrageous for a good day with perfect conditions, but they’re expecting that every day of the year? And $7000/home for 6 hrs a day?
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If you are going to spend $7000/home this Geothermal heat pump (underground) heating and cooling system makes a heck of a lot more sense. It is the only “green” technology outside of nuclear that does.
Pump: http://www.energyguide.com/library/EnergyLibraryTopic.asp?bid=tva&prd=10&TID=25703&SubjectID=10168
Plans: http://mb-soft.com/solar/saving.html
P. Solar:
“The Spanish can manage to produce base-load solar why can’t the US get its act together?
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Your data is a bit old pal.
P. Solar wrote: “The Spanish can manage to produce base-load solar why can’t the US get its act together?”
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Spain: Solar constituted 3 percent of 2010 electricity generation
Read more: http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/details/beitrag/spain–solar-constituted-3-percent-of-2010-electricity-generation_100002075/#ixzz1r23uZBUP
Even with solars meager contribution it has still been an economic disaster.
“The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men. Gang aft agley,”
Wag;
And the worst-laid ones almost always!