John Siciliano of the Washington Examiner reports on a U.S. House review of questions surrounding solar energy development.
House Republicans on Thursday will be taking a close, hard look at the Obama administration’s subsidies for a fleet of large solar power plants, the flagship of which caught fire earlier this year and has singed birds in mid-flight.
Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, will lead the House Natural Resources Committee’s oversight panel in examining the Ivanpah utility-scale solar plant and others like it that benefited from federal loan guarantees and grants but have suffered from performance issues.
A committee memo said the plant near the Nevada state line with California, which covers nearly 3,500 acres, “impairs” the Mojave National Preserve’s most scenic vista and poses harm to protected wildlife. In addition, the plant has faced technical challenges since opening in 2014.
Yet the “underperforming plant” benefited from a $1.6 billion federal loan guarantee, the memo said. It also received over $500 million in federal grants “to help pay back the loan.”
The federal support “subsidized” the joint owners of the $2.2 billion facility, including tech giant Google, Brightsource and investor-owned utility NRG. And that was just the beginning, the committee said.
“During the Obama administration, taxpayers have subsidized tens of billions of dollars in renewable energy projects, including risky utility scale solar projects on federal land,” the hearing memo added. “These projects cover vast tracts of land, and have demonstrably impacted protected species.”
