Category Archives: Corporate welfare

Solyndra e-mails: Dept. of Energy was poised to approve *another* $469 million for firm

Solyndra: House seeks more Obama White House emails, as revelations continue – The Washington Post

The Obama administration’s Department of Energy was poised last summer to give Solyndra a second major taxpayer loan of $469 million, even as the company’s financial situation was growing more dire.

The Energy Department was actively pushing to provide the second loan guarantee to the troubled solar-panel manufacturer in April and May 2010, when Solyndra’s auditors warned the company was in danger of closing due to its rapidly mounting debts and expenses, according to complete e-mails just released by a House committee investigating the original loan.

(Tom Nelson)

Solar Sales May Drop for First Time as Rates Cut, BNEF Says

Oct. 5 — Sales of solar panels may decline for the first time in 2012, leaving manufacturers with mounting inventories and excess capacity, according to a Bloomberg New Energy Finance analyst.

“New capacity in 2012 is likely to be flat if not lower than this year after significant drops in subsidies in key European markets,” Martin Simonek, a solar analyst at the London-based research firm, said in an interview. “That demand during 2011 has been stronger than last year has helped many companies stay alive. Next year will be different.” (Bloomberg)

Solyndra and a Billionaire’s Guilt Trip
Was this solar energy company absolution for George Kaiser’s oil money?
By WILLIAM MCGURN

On Wall Street this week protesters dressed as “corporate zombies” are lashing out against corporate greed. If the unfolding Solyndra scandal is any clue, however, maybe someone should ask about the high price we pay when corporate leaders indulge their feelings of guilt.

No one has spoken more frankly about guilt than billionaire George Kaiser, whose family nonprofit was Solyndra’s largest stakeholder. Mr. Kaiser first went public with his guilt in a Rotary Club speech two years ago. There he explained his charitable giving this way:

“It starts with a sense of guilt we should all feel,” he said. “We got to where we are by dumb luck.”

By dumb luck, Mr. Kaiser means that he was born to a caring father who founded an oil business, now known as Kaiser-Francis Oil. Mr. Kaiser took the company over in 1969 and also bought a bank that is now the BOK Financial Corporation. Together oil and banking have made him one of the world’s wealthiest men.

Now, you might suppose that a billionaire whose wealth comes from the progressive world’s two most villainous industries might find himself on the outs with an administration that routinely attacks billionaires, oil companies and bankers. You would, however, be wrong. In fact the record shows that Mr. Kaiser—a top Obama bundler during the last presidential campaign—was welcomed to the White House 16 times over the past two years.

That’s where the now-bankrupt Solyndra comes in. (WSJ)

Merkel suggests cutting solar subsidies further

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday solar energy subsidies should be reduced, and it could make more sense in the future to draw solar energy from places like Greece, where the sun shined longer. (Reuters)

Renewable energy: Subsidy cuts cause crisis of confidence
By Peter Wise

A winning combination of natural advantages, powerful utilities and public policy has made Spain a world leader in renewable energy. But a government decision to make retroactive cuts in one of the guaranteed subsidies that have helped drive this green revolution raises serious questions for the future of Spanish energy policy.

The retroactive cuts in the subsidies paid to producers of solar photovoltaic (PV) energy announced last December came “at the worst possible moment, given the severe economic crisis affecting Spain”, says Miguel Salis, chief executive of N+1 Eolia, which manages Spain’s largest independent wind and solar PV operator. (Financial Times)