Green Energy Loan Failures

Because green energy companies cannot attract enough willing investors, politicians force the rest of us to “invest” (via subsidies) in them.  Here's a partial list of their track record to date:

• SunPower, after receiving $1.5 billion from DOE, is reorganizing, cutting jobs.
• First Solar, after receiving $1.46 billion from DOE, is reorganizing, cutting jobs.
• Solyndra, after receiving $535 million from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.
• Ener1, after receiving $118.5 million from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.
• Evergreen Solar, after receiving millions of dollars from the state of Massachusetts, filed for bankruptcy protection.
• SpectraWatt, backed by Intel and Goldman Sachs, filed for bankruptcy protection.
• Beacon Power, after receiving $43 million from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.
• Abound Solar, after receiving $400 million from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.
• Amonix, after receiving $5.9 million from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.
• Babcock & Brown (an Australian company), after receiving $178 million from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.
• A123 Systems, after receiving $279 million from DOE, shipped some bad batteries and is barely operating. It cut jobs.
• Solar Trust for America, after receiving a $2.1-billion loan guarantee from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.
• Nevada Geothermal, after receiving $98.5 million from DOE, warns of potential defaults in new SEC filings.

Government continues to think that it can do a better job of predicting the future than private enterprise and the free market but as John Stossel says "No, They Can't".

Lastly, it appears that the majority of the green energy companies that received government subsidies were major contributors to the party in power - another example of politicians using taxpayer money to stay in office.