Here we go again…
 
On Monday, Solar Trust of America LLC, which holds the development rights for the world’s largest solar power project, filed for bankruptcy protection after its majority owner began insolvency proceedings in Germany.
 
From Reuters:

The Oakland-based company has held rights for the 1,000-megawatt Blythe Solar Power Project in the Southern California desert, which last April won $2.1 billion of conditional loan guarantees from the U.S. Department of Energy. It is unclear how the bankruptcy will affect that project.

Zerohedge has more:

…while one could say that the company’s epic collapse is more a function of alternative energy politics in Germany, where its 70% parent Solar Millennium AG filed for bankruptcy last December, what is relevant is that last April STA was the proud recipient of a $2.1 billion conditional loan from the Department of Energy, incidentally the second largest loan ever handed out by the DOE’s Stephen Chu.
That amount was supposed to fund the expansion of the company’s 1000 MW Blythe Solar Power Project in Riverside, California. From the funding press release, “This project construction is expected to create over 1,000 direct jobs in Southern California, 7,500 indirect jobs in related industries throughout the United States, and more than 200 long-term operational jobs at the facility itself. It will play a key role in stimulating the American economy,” said Uwe T. Schmidt, Chairman and CEO of Solar Trust of America and Executive Chairman of project development subsidiary Solar Millennium, LLC.”

 
Oops. Instead of stimulating the American economy – as Zerohedge comments – what it will stimulate is lots of billable hours for bankruptcy attorneys (at $1,000/hour).
 
I’m pretty sure that the $2.1 billion figure makes Solar Trust the winner in the biggest-waste-of-taxpayer-dollars-for-alternative-energy-competition to date. But they’re in good company. Who can forget:
 
A123 Systems ~ Feb. 2012 – $390 million
Ener1 ~ Jan. 2012 – $118 million
Beacon Power Corp ~ Oct. 2011 – $43 million
Solyndra ~ Aug. 2011 – $535 million
 
And here’s a news story from (surprisingly) CBS News in January, reporting on the disturbing track record of government-assisted green tech companies. It didn’t seem to matter that the fiscal outlook for many of these businesses was less than rosy when they were given loan guarantees…
11 More Solyndras In Obama Energy Program ~
 

 
Not surprisingly, ever after the litany of failed alternative energy companies, CBS seems to feel that Big Government still knows best. Sigh.

Solar Trust of America was rather ironically named don’t you think? But then consider that our elected officials are supposed to be trustees of public funds. Ha!
Now that’s really ironic!
 

Related:
 
World’s Largest Solar Power Plant Goes Bankrupt ~ from Breitbart/Big Government. Gee, isn’t this interesting:

Solar Trust is one of the companies Peter Schweizer mentioned in his book Throw Them All Out who were offered or received large Department of Energy loans or grants and also have ties to President Obama. Schweizer notes in his book that Citigroup Global Partners and Deutsche Bank have invested $6 billion in this project. Until recently, the vice chair of Citigroup Global Partners was Louis Susman who sat on the National Finance Committee for Obama’s campaign in 2008. In return, Susman left Citigroup to become President Obama’s ambassador to Britain.