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Post date: Mar 12, 2012 7:17:49 PM
Snap Fact #128
President Obama’s Long Term Energy Program Is “Building The Future”!
Since taking office, President Obama has worked tirelessly to increase investment in many clean energy projects. The company called BrightSource was planning on investing in a solar power plant, in 2010. They claimed that one of their projects would eventually will create 1,000 new jobs and bring power to up to 140,000 homes.
On October 2, 2010 President Obama had the following remarks upon the inauguration of the project. “It was essential – for our economy, our security, and our planet – that we finally tackle this challenge. That is why, since we took office, my administration has made an historic commitment to promote clean energy technology. This will mean hundreds of thousands of new American jobs by 2012. Jobs for contractors to install energy-saving windows and insulation. Jobs for factory workers to build high-tech vehicle batteries, electric cars, and hybrid trucks. Jobs for engineers and construction crews to create wind farms and solar plants that are going to double the renewable energy we can generate in this country. These are jobs building the future.”
Much ink has been given to the failed Solyndra Company. This one failure gave the President's opponents the opportunity to brand the federal backing of clean energy technology as a waste of money. Ironically Solyndra was initially brought in by the Bush administration and handed to Obama at the turnover of the presidency. Negative stories make the news while the good news is not interesting enough to print or broadcast. Therefore, the truth of a matter is often shrouded in the shadows and never brought to light. The following information is a follow-up on the BrightSource project. For more details click on the last link below.
The promise of BrightSource is being realized and is making a difference in job creation and clean energy generation. The company's Ivanpah project is located upon 3,500 acres of Federal land in the Mojave Desert. At completion it will provide 1,400 - 1600 union jobs generating $650 million in wages and bring in $400 million in local and state revenues over a 30 year period. The carbon dioxide reduction will be the equivalent of taking 70,000 cars off the road, and it will conserve scarce water as well. Financing for the project was secured not only a US Department of Energy loan guarantee, but also $168 million from Google and $300 million from NRG Energy as equity investors.
On February 21, 2012 – NRG Energy, Google and BrightSource Energy jointly announced that the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System was awarded Project of the Year by Solar Power Generation USA. Ivanpah is currently the world’s largest concentrating solar power plant under construction. When completed, it will double the amount of solar thermal electricity produced in the entire US.
Ivanpah commenced construction in October 2010 and is expected to begin delivering power to its utility customers PG&E and Southern California Edison in 2013. Completion of this important solar power facility will bring California one giant step closer toward its goal of producing 33% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. ”Upon completion, the project will employ over 1,600 construction workers and on-site project support staff.
A massive project such as this takes time and investment money to complete. President Obama has begun a process that many before him have talked about but not acted upon. This is no magic bullet but it is a long term project that will yield longer term results for California, the country, and for the planet.
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