Nancy Pelosi’s brother-in-law has been granted a $737 million loan from the Department of Energy to build giant solar power plant in desert despite the Solyndra scandal.
The government loan agreement is now raising concerns about the use of money as huge amounts are also invested in technology similar to that of the failed project.
The debate over the effectiveness of solar energy as a major source of power has also intensified.
Backed by an energy investment fund, the SolarReserve project explains that energy will be generated using concentrated solar power technology with a series of mirrors directing sunlight to a receiver.
PCG Clean Energy and Technology Fund LLC is one of the project’s investors. Others include one of the major investors in Solyndra.
Steve Mitchell, who served on the board of directors at Solyndra, is also the managing director of Argonaut Private Equity, which has also invested in the newest energy project.
The artist’s impression of the solar plant shows the tower in the middle, which will be higher than the Washington Monument.
The huge project will generate electricity to power 43,000 homes.
The joint announcement by Steven Chu, Energy Secretary, comes only two days after the doomed Solyndra project, which cost $528 million taxpayer money, was meant to be finished.
Republican critics have expressed their outrage at the new government loans while the doomed energy project is still being investigated.
They have also raised concerns that the DoE is speeding up the approval of loans before stimulus expire.
Florida representative Cliff Stearns, chairman of the investigations subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commers, said: “The administration’s flagship project Solyndra is bankrupt and being investigated by the FBI, the promised jobs never materialised, and now the Department of Energy is preparing to rush out nearly $5 billion in loans in the final 48 hours before stimulus funds expire — that’s nearly $105 million every hour that must be finalised until the deadline.point 506 |
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The president of Citizens Against Government Waste, Tom Schatz, said: “It is time for a full audit of their activities, their management and their results.
“Candidly, it might be time for the federal government to rethink the whole idea of loan programs.”
Mr. Chu said the two projects will create at least 52 permanent jobs and 900 construction jobs.
“If we want to be a player in the global clean energy race, we must continue to invest in innovative technologies that enable commercial-scale deployment of clean, renewable power like solar,” he added.
The Crescent Dunes project will create steam by using the sun’s heat to drive a turbine, SolarReserve.
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