Department of Energy Waste

In the October 17th issue of Chemical & engineering News, Jeff Johnson has a nicely informative article on the Department of Energy's expenditures for loan guarantees and grants to promote "clean" energy.

At the end of September, the Department of Energy awarded $4.7 billion loan support for four photovoltaic solar projects in California, $1.5 billion to install ground-level solar panels, $1.4 billion to install rooftop solar panels, $1.2 billion for a solar "ranch", and $646 million for a thin-film solar project. This is all based on Congress' passage of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009, which I have previously strongly recommended should be repealed by Congress and removed from separate funding.

The DOE also offers another $10.6 billion for clean energy projects through a separate loan guarantee program that is not dependent on stimulus money.Two other guarantees would support solar installations in the West—$737 million for a 110-MW concentrating solar power tower project in Nevada and $337 million for a 150-MW PV facility in Arizona. The remainder would guarantee a $132 million loan for a commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in Kansas.

In all, $13.3 billion of the $16.1 billion American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funded program supports loans for solar-related projects.

Also at the end of September, DOE announced $156 million in grants to 60 research teams under DOE’s ARPA-E program, which funds transformative energy research projects. It is the fourth round of ARPA-E grants.

In the two years since it was first funded, ARPA-E has provided $522 million to 180 projects,

The ARPA-E grant projects involve biofuel production, alternatives to rare earth minerals, storage transport and use of thermal energy, automating the electricity grid, and grid connection of PV (solar) generated electricity. Those funds are almost equally distributed among universities, small businesses, and large businesses.
I have previously said, and I will say again, that these programs are a complete waste of taxpayer money. There is absolutely no need to try to replace the traditional sources of energy, such as natural gas and petroleum with solar and wind. US fossil fuel reserves can be harvested at costs significantly below anything that could involve solar energy.

I have recommended previously that the Department of Energy be eliminated. It was originally set up by Congress and can also be removed by Congress. From a practical consideration, the Senate will obviously vote for continued existence, as will the President. However, the House must go on record as having taken the initiative, and after the forthcoming elections of 2012, we will be able to see some positive action through a new Senate and President.