Experts Accuse Former President Obama's $1.6 Billion Solar Project of 'Financial Corruption and Disaster'

Experts Accuse Former President Obama's $1.6 Billion Solar Project of 'Financial Corruption and Disaster'

Under former President Barack Obama's administration, the $1.6 billion loan-guaranteed Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, one of the largest solar energy projects, is now on the brink of closure. Energy experts have criticized the project as a "financial corruption" and "disaster for the natural environment."

In 2011, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) provided a $1.6 billion loan guarantee for the Ivanpah Solar Power Plant, which consists of three solar concentrating thermal power plants in California. At that time, former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz described the project as "an example of how America is becoming a world leader in solar energy."

However, ten years later, the project is now heading toward closure. Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, said, "Ivanpah is yet another failed green energy project, just like Solyndra. Despite receiving $1.6 billion in federal loan guarantees, it has failed to live up to its promises, producing less electricity than expected and still relying on natural gas to remain operational."

Two of the three units of the Ivanpah project were contracted by Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) in 2009, with plans to operate until 2039. However, in January, PG&E announced that they would cancel the agreement 14 years early, determining that "ending the agreements at this time would save customers money."

Julia Dowell from the Sierra Club stated, "Ivanpah was a financial boondoggle and an environmental disaster. It killed thousands of birds and tortoises, and the construction of the project destroyed irreplaceable desert habitats."

This project is seen as another failure following the Solyndra project, which went bankrupt in 2011 after receiving $535 million in federal loan guarantees.

Meanwhile, Steve Milloy, senior fellow at the Energy and Environmental Legal Institute (EELI), remarked, "Green projects have a long history of being expensive taxpayer-subsidized disasters." He added, "Green energy projects have never made economic or environmental sense."