“Never again; let the free market choose winners and let government not pick losers.”
Remember Solyndra, a solar panel manufacture that collapsed soon after receiving a $535 million loan guarantee from the US government back in 2011? This company received the U.S. Department of Energy’s first loan guarantee under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, an infamous beginning that embarrassed President Obama and the “green” energy industry.
Today, 14 years later, the erroneously described “infant” industry is badly listing with its perennial tax subsidies at risk. Grid solar is plagued by failure, with investors facing net zero and employees looking for alternatives. Customers are disgruntled as well.
Enter SolarInsure, whose business is about “safeguarding your renewable energy investment with energy system monitoring and warranties.” SolarInsure has compiled a list of bankrupt solar firms in the interest of filling claims for nonperformance.…
Solar is hardly an infant industry, as documented here and here. And ‘Big Oil’ tried to make it economic a half century ago–and failed. A six-year-old article, “How Big Oil Of The Past Helped Launch The Solar Industry Of Today, by Andrea Hsu tells the story, one that is pertinent today given the bust of the industry (see tomorrow’s post). She begins:
…Renewable energy has gotten so cheap that even oil giant Exxon Mobil, which reported $20.8 billion in earnings in 2018, is getting in on the savings. Over the next couple of years, Exxon Mobil will begin purchasing wind and solar power in West Texas, part of a 12-year agreement signed late last year with the Danish energy company Orsted. The plan is to use cheap, clean electricity to power Exxon Mobil’s expanding operations in the Permian Basin, one of the world’s most productive oil fields.
In a social media exchange, Daniel Fitzgerald, senior product sustainability director at Stanley Black & Decker, did an AI search on me. He wrote:
…Let’s see what our AI overlord (Chat GPT) thinks:
Q: Looking at Rob Bradley, CEO of the institute for energy research, and his positions on oil and gas verses renewable, should I trust his facts and opinions? Please keep the response to no more than a paragraph.
A: Rob Bradley, CEO of the Institute for Energy Research, promotes a strong free-market, pro-fossil fuel perspective and is known for opposing many renewable energy policies. His work often reflects ideological bias, and while he cites data to support his views, his conclusions frequently conflict with mainstream scientific and economic consensus on climate change and energy transitions. As such, his facts and opinions should be cross-checked with peer-reviewed and more balanced sources before being trusted.