This appeared here and I wish to thank Marita
for allowing me to publish her work. RK
After a public meeting on Tuesday, April 15 in Palm Desert,
California, the California Energy Commission (CEC) will vote, on Wednesday, in Sacramento on whether or not to
re-permit a 500-megawatt solar thermal project that has been on hold since
December. At that time, the commission indicated that it would deny the
proposed BrightSource Energy and Abengoa Solar project based on “visual impacts
to a network of trails, petroglyphs and other tribal sites stretching across
the desert in eastern Riverside County.”
Since December, the companies have done additional environmental
impact studies and proposed mitigation. Apparently believing the votes are
there, the companies have pushed for the commission to make a decision. Abengoa
insiders have reported that the project is a go.
While the CEC is concerned about visual impacts, and local tribes
worry about the project due to potential artifacts that may be present,
American taxpayers should be opposed to the cronyism, abuse, mismanagement, and
violations involved in one of the companies: Abengoa — which received $2.8
billion in taxpayer funding.
This report will expose one of the largest recipients of Obama’s
green energy funding: Abengoa — which if not stopped, will get even more
taxpayer dollars. On April 2, 2014, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, said: “the department would probably throw open the door
for new applications for renewable energy project loan guarantees during the
second quarter of this year.”
Here’s a taste of what you’ll learn about Abengoa and how it
operates:
- Crony-connected,
Stimulus-funded, Spanish-owned company builds/opens solar generating
station—currently producing electricity.
- Brings
foreigners to U.S. to fill jobs from welders to administration to
engineers to management—often working on tourist visas for as long as 9
months.
- Many
Americans, who do have jobs on the project, get fired so expats can have
the jobs.
- Health
insurance fraud committed by putting expats on plans when they are not on
payroll (expats on tourist visas were paid out of accounts payable).
- American
vendors/contractors payments are intentionally delayed while U.S. taxpayer
funds are in Spain collecting interest—$70 million owned to U.S. vendors.
On October 7, 2013, a giant concentrated-solar plant opened near Gila Bend, AZ. The $2 Billion Solana Generating
Station has 32,320 mirrors on 1900 acres (equivalent to 1400 football fields)
making it the world’s largest parabolic trough array with thermal
storage. The 280 MW generating station is one of the first solar plants that
can store thermal power for six hours. The stored thermal power can be used at
night or on cloudy days to produce the steam that turns the turbines and
creates electricity.
Solana was made possible because of the 2009 stimulus bill and the
loan guarantees and grants made available by the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Plant owner, Abengoa, reports that Solana’s
construction employed 2,000 people.
When selling ARRA to the American public, the president said it
would create jobs. Abengoa employees, who contributed to this report, were
grateful for the jobs. They believed in green energy generally and the project
specifically. But that was in the beginning when the sun was shining on Solana
and its parent Abengoa.
With the green energy failures (32 failed and 22 circling the drain) being widely
exposed by both the mainstream media, through shows like 60 Minutes, and
Republicans, who point to the failures in order to embarrass President Obama
and stop future green energy spending, one would think that Solana’s success
would be something the White House would want to use for a major PR campaign —
with pictures of a triumphant Obama cutting the ribbon splashed across the
front page of every major newspaper. At the least, you’d expect an appearance
by Vice President Joe Biden. Earlier, the White House had promised one or the
other would be there, but neither was present for Solana’s October opening.
With the president’s penchant for photo ops, it seems mysterious
that the official White House photographer wasn’t present to capture, and
capitalize on, the moment.
Why wasn’t Obama waving to the cameras on October 7? Because even
though Solana is a technical success, it is still an embarrassing failure. When
the details in this report are exposed, as he must have known they inevitably
would be, he didn’t want to be anywhere near the project—because, as this
report exposes, Solana would have never happened without direct intervention
from the President.
Abengoa
Abengoa is a renewable energy company headquartered in Seville,
Spain. Its U.S. division received approximately $2.8 billion in stimulus loans
(five times more than Solyndra) for two large solar projects (Arizona, Solana —
$1.45 billion; and California, Mojave — $1.2 Billion), as well as one biofuel
project (Kansas, Hugoton — $132 million), plus $818 million in treasury grants.
In addition to the $2.8 billion, Abengoa companies received $150 million from the U.S. Export-Import Bank for green
jobs overseas and, more recently, $2 million from the SunShot initiative.
At the time the stimulus bill was passed, Spain was in the midst
of its own financial crisis. Credit wasn’t available and Abengoa’s
stock value had dropped. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s
March 2012 report states:
Abengoa’s prospects look dim due to its investments in Europe,
particularly Spain, and suffer the risk of declining subsidies as Spain
contends with its own declining credit quality and the potential need for a
bailout of its own government in the coming months or years. Now that Germany
and Spain cut back solar subsidies, this will undoubtedly harm the European
renewable investments of Abengoa. Even if Abengoa investments initially
appeared attractive to DOE, overinvestment in this single firm will likely
cause substantial harm to the taxpayer.
The stimulus must have seemed like a lifesaver. Abengoa had the
technological know how that the president’s green energy push needed — and the
president was willing to pay for it. However, Abengoa had bad credit ratings
from Fitch for each of the three projects the taxpayers funded: Solana — BB+;
Mojave — BB; Hugoton—CCC. (Fitch describes the ratings this way: “BB: Speculative.
‘BB’ ratings indicate an elevated vulnerability to default risk, particularly
in the event of adverse changes in business or economic conditions over time;
however, business or financial flexibility exists which supports the servicing
of financial commitments.” And “CCC: Substantial credit risk. Default is a real
possibility.”)
While Abengoa didn’t have good credit, it did have, as Christine
Lakatos has thoroughly documented, valuable connections.
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