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Thursday, December 10, 2015

Solar Firm Lobbies for More Subsidies as Parent Company Admits Insolvency

A green energy company backed by billions in taxpayer funds is pouring money into its lobbying operation even as its parent company teeters on the edge of bankruptcy, government documents show.

Abengoa Solar LLC has spent $70,000 since October lobbying Congress for renewable energy subsidies, disclosure filings reveal. On each of the issues on which it lobbied, the company reported that its foreign parent, Spanish firm Abengoa, would benefit financially.

That company recently filed for insolvency protection in Spain, a process that gives it four months to secure financing that would allow it to stave off bankruptcy.

According to figures released by the company in those proceedings, its largest creditor, at about $2.35 billion (2.2 billion euros), is the U.S. Treasury. It also owes more than $280 million (260 million euros) to a controversial U.S. export finance agency recently reauthorized by Congress.

Abengoa is the company behind two U.S. solar facilities that together received $2.85 billion in stimulus-funded loan guarantees from the Department of Energy. Its extensive U.S. government backing led the group Good Jobs First to label Abengoa one of “Uncle Sam’s favorite corporations.”

Its federal financing came by way of the same loan guarantee program that backed the now-defunct solar company Solyndra, which could revive criticism of Obama administration subsidies for green energy companies that surfaced in the wake of its 2011 bankruptcy.

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

self-licking ice cream cone

Anonymous said...

Another government give-away gone wrong for the taxpayer.

If the money instead went to reimburse people that buy these systems for home use - the demand for the product would cause competition and better products.....

You can't push a rope.....

Anonymous said...

Investing in Renewables shifts vast amounts of American monies overseas. Solar panels are junk that are only in demand because government policy favors it. Change the policy and it magically becomes junk in the fields. Somerset County is about to be covered in 1.5 miles of solar panels. Pioneer Green is so shady, they are resisting buffering in residential zones. Because Pioneer Green is superceding zoning laws, nearby residents do not know their residential neighborhoods will now be industrial zones.
A Ride down Costen Road shows what an eyesore utility solar is.

Anonymous said...

Politically connected POS's.

Anonymous said...

If you really want to see an eyesore in Somerset drive down Whittington road and check out where the leader of Safe for Somerset lives! I would much rather look at solar panels.BTW the setback for the Pioneer Green project is 50'. Tammy's poultry house is 30' from the road with the fans blowing onto the road solar panels don't stink, don't spread allergians, don't deplete aquifers, don't require heavy truck traffic and don't make noise. Furthermore their have been numerous subsidies used on this farm, for instance the concrete pads at the end of the chicken house. Tammy is fine with the government handing out tax dollars as long as she is getting them.