Agreed. The key is to look for initiatives/companies that have private investors. The government shouldn’t be giving out loans until the private sector has done due diligence. And those loans should only occur if the tech is good, but the capital markets are poor due to current OBAMA economic conditions.
Another thing that hacks me off is the company that got the loan is in CANADA.
It is a big outfit
http://www.nevadageothermal.com/s/Home.asp
with a lot of propterty
NGP holds leasehold interests in eight geothermal projects located in Western United States:Blue Mountain,Pumpernickel, North Valley , and Edna Mountain - in Nevada, New Truckhaven, East Brawley, and South Brawley - in California and Crump Geyser- in Oregon.
They got a grant, not a loan in the beginning.
One example of the new wave in geothermal power generation is the recently completed 50-MW Blue Mountain Faulkner 1 Geothermal Power Plant. To help finance its project, in November 2009, Nevada Geothermal Power Inc. (NGP) applied for and received a $57.9 million cash grant from the U.S. Department of the Treasury in lieu of tax credits for its geothermal power plant. This cash grant was funded by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. The total construction cost for the Blue Mountain power plant was $180 million, and debt financing was handled by Trust Company of the West.
They are not alone
The companies, based in the West, have received $195 million in partial federal loan guarantees and grants aimed at promoting clean energy. Although the companies have agreements with utilities to buy their energy, they have not operated at a profit. They face questions similar to those of Solyndra, the now-bankrupt solar manufacturer that received a $535million federal loan in 2009.
Raser Technologies, a Utah company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this year after burning through hundreds of millions of investor financing and a $33million Treasury Department grant that was awarded to the company in 2010.
Nevada Geothermal Power (NGP) said in its financial filings that it has never operated profitably and that the company is at risk of failing.
A third company, U.S. Geothermal, received a $97million Energy Department loan in February. Its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show that it has not made a profit in the past four years.
Oddly, I wrote a book where, in part, failing geothermal power plays a part in the plot. Who knew?