I wrote:
> The taxpayers will get their money back eventually. The power companies > are not going to stop buying electricity from this installation. They may > renegotiate the price . . . > Source: I think I read this at Renewable Energy World, but I cannot find the article. Anyway, that is the usual arrangement. Since the machine is up and running, and making a profit on current operations, the taxpayers should be reimbursed. The owners may face bankruptcy. http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/index.html The article went on to say this is quite different from the situation at Solyndra. There was no revenue stream when Solyndra went bankrupt. They did not have anything up and running. When a company goes bankrupt, if there are parts of the company which are making a current profit, the courts are careful to keep those parts in business. They try not to sell off assets or do anything else which will disrupt those parts and stop the flow of income. They try not to cause more unemployment than necessary. On the other hand, they direct the current profit flow to the creditors, and away from stockholders. When Uncle Sam is among the creditors or unpaid vendors, he always goes to the front of the line. That's how it works. The Solyndra bankruptcy has been called a scandal. It is not a scandal. Any investment can go south. Many governments supported ventures have failed. In this case, the Solyndra portion of the fund failed but overall the fund did exceptionally well and made a ton of money for the taxpayers. You might argue that the Federal government should not be investing in technology. That might appeal to purists who think the government should play no role in the economy, but as I have often pointed out, the government has played a leading role since the construction of the Erie Canal, and in ever major technology since then. If it had not, I expect the U.S. would have lost the Civil War, WWI and WWII. Since most Federal money goes to conventional technology such as coal and oil, I do not think the industry should complain. - Jed
