firstsolar - ACTION - Command Center2024-03-29T11:56:20Zhttps://patriotcommandcenter.org/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/firstsolarObama-Tied Troubled First Solar $3 Billion DOE Loans Produce Majority of Jobs Oversees, CEO Sold His Own Stock –– Plus More "Clean-Energy Dirt" Exposedhttps://patriotcommandcenter.org/profiles/blogs/obama-tied-troubled-first-solar-3-billion-doe-loans-produce2012-06-12T15:30:00.000Z2012-06-12T15:30:00.000ZChristine Lakatoshttps://patriotcommandcenter.org/members/ChristineLakatos<div><div style="font-family:Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><div style="font-family:Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><div class="post-header"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eYJ8hpy8UZI/T8ZtjBQiG8I/AAAAAAAABfA/VkshTuQ-ek8/s1600/solar+news.jpg" style="clear:left;float:left;margin-bottom:1em;margin-right:1em;"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eYJ8hpy8UZI/T8ZtjBQiG8I/AAAAAAAABfA/VkshTuQ-ek8/s1600/solar+news.jpg" border="0" alt="solar+news.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-size:small;">Since the finalization of three DOE loan guarantees at a price tag of over $3 billion of taxpayer money, First Solar has "experienced serious financial problems," in October 2011 <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_607143488" target="_blank">fired their CEO</a> <a href="http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/10/stormy-forecast-first-solar-ceo-fired-stocks-tumble.php">Robert Gillette</a> (replaced by former CEO and company founder Mike Ahearn),</span> <span style="font-size:small;">suffered from <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-17/first-solar-latest-casualty-in-renewable-energy-shakeout.html" target="_blank">declining stock value</a>, and back in April 2012, you guessed it, "<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/04/17/first-solar-lays-off-2000-workers/" target="_blank">laid off 2,000 workers and closed factories</a>."</span> <span style="font-size:small;">If that wasn't bad enough, n</span><span style="font-size:small;">ow in May, "the firm announced a <a href="http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/First-Solar-Furloughs-Half-its-AVSR1-Workforce-1100MW-in-Jeopardy/">massive round of furloughs</a>," but it gets more convoluted...</span> </span></div><div style="font-family:Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"> </span></div><div style="font-family:Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size:large;"><b>Follow the Obama Bundlers and Donors –– F</b></span><span style="font-size:large;"><b>irst Solar Investors</b></span></div><div style="font-family:Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">First Solar was an early investment of Goldman Sachs, the number two <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00009638">Top Obama Donor </a> that gave more than $1 million dollars to his 2008 campaign –– n</span><span style="font-size:small;">ot to mention the Obama administration "</span><a href="http://michellemalkin.com/2010/04/21/all-the-presidents-goldman-sachs-men/">is infested</a>" with Goldman Sachs executives.</div><div style="font-family:Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><div><span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span> <br /> <span style="font-size:small;">Furthermore, two Goldman executives sat on Obama's 2008 Finance Committee –– Bruce Heyman and David Heller, while</span> <span style="font-size:small;">Jennifer Scully and Bruce Heyman were 2008 Obama bundlers. According to the Wall Street Journal in 2009, <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2009/01/09/obamas-wall-street-buddies/"><span class="yui320181324913183869544">Obama’s Wall Street Buddies</span></a></span><span style="font-size:small;">, "</span><span style="font-size:small;">Ms. Scully raised $100,000, but didn’t make any large donations personally; Mr. Heyman bundled $50,000 in donations, including a $10,000 contribution he made and Goldman executive, David Heller, donated $25,000."</span><br /> <span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span> <br /><table class="tr-caption-container" style="color:#000000;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;text-align:center;" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:small;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-70IIaFNSL7s/T8ZFdm8No-I/AAAAAAAABes/Xu-5UMLdl14/s1600/GoldmanSacs_Environmental+Markets_2011.jpg" style="clear:right;margin-bottom:1em;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-70IIaFNSL7s/T8ZFdm8No-I/AAAAAAAABes/Xu-5UMLdl14/s320/GoldmanSacs_Environmental+Markets_2011.jpg" border="0" height="320" width="245" alt="GoldmanSacs_Environmental+Markets_2011.jpg" /></a></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align:center;">NOTE: JPEG is what I found during my research in 2010 and 2011 (<a href="http://www2.goldmansachs.com/services/advising/environmental-markets/business-initiatives/principle-investments.html" style="color:#0000FF;text-decoration:underline;">Goldman Sachs Environmental Markets)</a>,<br /> which is no longer available on the Goldman Sachs site.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span> <br /> <span style="font-size:small;">Also, in Peter Schweizer’s New York Times bestseller, <i>Throw Them All Out</i>, is recorded more interesting data on First Solar. For example, another First Solar investor is billionaire Paul Tudor Jones, who was a 2008 Obama bundler, and the CEO of First Solar, Michael Ahearn, "gives generously (and exclusively) to Democrats."</span><br /><div style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span> <br /> <span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span> <br /> <span style="font-size:large;"><b>Troubled First Solar</b></span> <span style="font-size:large;"><b>Under Extreme Oversight Heat, Including</b></span> <span style="font-size:large;"><b>its CEO Michael Ahearn</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear:both;color:#000000;text-align:center;"><iframe width="350" height="197" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/uZwaSv2wIB0?rel=0&wmode=opaque" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-size:small;">Speaking of Mr. Ahearn, during the May 16, 2012 House Oversight Committee hearing, CA Representative Darrell Issa surmised that First Solar is "not an American company." It turns out that the <i>numbers</i> don't lie because Ahearn admitted, "in sheer numbers, most of our full time [employees] are outside the US." Yep folks, the majority of the jobs that the DOE funded with taxpayer money are going oversees.</span> <span style="font-size:small;"> </span><br /> <span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span> <br /> <span style="font-size:small;">More outrageous information came out of a brutal "House Oversight" confrontation,</span> <span style="font-size:small;">where Mr. Ahearn, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKDxy6J3TAY&feature=relmfu" target="_blank">admitted to selling over</a> 700,000 shares in August 2011, of which he personally raked in a whopping $68.5 million! Yet, according to <a href="http://humanevents.com/">HumanEvents.com</a>, this has been going on for a while, "between 2008 and 2012 –– a period when First Solar’s stock value dropped by almost 95 percent –– Ahearn sold over $450 million of his own company’s stock." </span></div><div style="color:#000000;"><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:small;">Yet,</span> <span style="color:#3e3d3d;">t</span>wo weeks after this hearing, where Ahearn had <span style="font-size:small;"><a href="http://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/5-16-12-RegAffairs-Ahearn.pdf">told</a></span> <span style="color:#000000;">members of the House Oversight committee that his company “remains financially strong and well positioned to execute through the current market environment,"</span> <span style="font-size:small;">First Solar announced that they have "furloughed half of the 240-person workforce at its Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One (AVSR1) power plant near Los Angeles"</span> <span style="font-size:small;">as reported by <a href="http://freebeacon.com/first-solar-furlough/">The Washington Free Beacon</a> ––</span> FIRST SOLAR FURLOUGH.</div><div><span style="font-size:small;"> </span></div><div id="yui_3_2_0_1_13383854602971794"><div style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-size:small;">Oh, but as Fist Solar sinks and taxpayers lose, the CEO Ahearn is not the only one cashing in. Another Obama ally, a member of “<a href="http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/11/obama-enlists-patriotic-millionaires/?pagemode=print">Patriotic Millionaires</a>” (a group of wealthy Obama supporters backing the president’s effort to raise taxes on high-earners), is "Ultra-wealthy Obama supporter Whitney Tilson" –– again unraveled by <a href="http://freebeacon.com/patriotic-millionaire-shorts-american-funded-company/">The Washington Free Beacon</a> just today. It turns out that "One of the few “winners” in Tilson’s portfolio was his short position in First Solar, a company <a href="http://freebeacon.com/first-solar-furlough/">on the brink of collapse</a> despite receiving <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2012/05/16/first-solars-3-1-billion-in-doe-loan-guarantees-created-mostly-overseas-jobs-video/">more than $3 billion</a> in federal loan guarantees from the Obama administration." </span></div><div style="color:#000000;"><div><span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span> <br /> <span style="font-size:small;">And, the DOE is not the only government agency that <i>played favorites</i> with First Solar...</span><br /> <span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span> <br /> <span style="font-size:small;">First Solar has been facing scrutiny</span> <span style="font-size:small;">by the Senate Budget Committee</span> <span style="font-size:small;">over the fact they are part of the "Special Solar Seven"</span> <span style="font-size:small;">that in March 2009 "received fast-tracked approval by the Department of Interior (DOI) to lease federal lands in a no-bid process," story also tracked by <a href="http://freebeacon.com/solar-shenanigans/" target="_blank">The Washington Free Beacon</a>. As reported last week <a href="http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2012/06/examiner-editorial-obamas-interior-department-stalls-clean-energy-query/687616">by the Washington Examiner</a>, "Lawmakers fear that several politically connected green energy companies received special treatment from the Interior and Energy departments due to their relationship with Obama. [Last November], they focused their inquiry on six companies in particular: Abengoa Solar, BrightSource Energy, First Solar, Nevada Geothermal Power, NextEra Energy Resources and SolarReserve.</span><span style="font-size:small;">" However, as of late, President Obama's Interior Department –– Interior Secretary Ken Salazar –– is "following the same playbook" as Energy Secretary Steven Chu: "stall, and give Congress as little information and documentation as possible." </span></div><div style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-size:small;"> </span></div><br /> <span style="font-size:large;"><br /></span> <br /> <span style="font-size:large;"><b>First Solar and Energy Secretary Chu's "DOE's Junk Bond Portfolio"</b></span><br /> <span style="font-size:small;">First Solar is not directly in the "<a href="http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/31/obama-energy-officials-funded-solar-firms-despite-junk-bond-ratings-from-sp-fitch/">DOE junk bond inventory</a>" that I reported on in April <span style="text-decoration:underline;">(</span></span><span style="font-size:small;"><a href="http://greencorruption.blogspot.com/2012/04/green-corruption-department-of-energy.html" target="_blank">Green Corruption: Department of Energy “Junk Loans” and Cronyism ––...</a></span><span style="font-size:small;">, but are they are linked to three of the projects on that list. </span></div><ol><li><span style="font-size:small;"><u>Agua Caliente, Arizona</u> –– Rating BB+ by Fitch, Aug 2011 for $967 million –– was purchased by NRG Solar, LLC, and a subsidiary of NRG Energy. It turns out that the plant would supply power to PG&E, and be made with panels from the Temp-based First Solar inc. See my NRG and George Soros post, <a href="http://greencorruption.blogspot.com/2012/05/breaking-nrg-energy-on-doe-cronyism-hot.html">BREAKING: NRG Energy on the DOE Cronyism Hot Seat, Also Tied to Geo...</a> Also, <a href="http://investor.firstsolar.com/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=597304">electricity from Agua Caliente</a> will be sold under a 25-year power purchase agreement with</span> <span style="color:#000000;font-size:small;">Pacific Gas and Electric Co</span><span style="font-size:small;">, (another Big Energy firm <a href="http://freebeacon.com/pacific-gas-cronyism/">making BANK</a> off of green energy, including government subsidies that just so happens to be <i style="color:#000000;">politically connected</i> to the president and the Democrat party)</span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><u>Antelope Valley Solar Ranch, California</u> –– Rating BBB- by Fitch, Sept 2011 for $646 million</span> –– <span style="font-size:small;"><a href="http://investor.firstsolar.com/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=609723">was purchased by Exelon Corp</a></span>, yet First Solar, which developed the project, "will build, operate, and maintain the project." Interesting that Exelon Corp. <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.php?cid=N00009638&cycle=2008&type=I&newMem=N&recs=100">was another 2008 Obama donor</a>, and the AVR project has a 25-year purchase power agreement from PG&E as well.</li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><u>Desert Sunlight, California</u> –– Rating BBB- by Fitch; Sept 2011 for $1.2 billion (or $1.46 billion</span> –– <span style="font-size:small;"><a href="http://investor.firstsolar.com/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=610018">was sold to NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, the competitive energy s...</a></span>. Yet, the September announcement also states that, "First Solar will continue to build and subsequently operate and maintain the project under separate agreements." <i>Coincidentally</i>, both CEO's are on <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/advisory-boards/jobs-council/members/immelt">President Obama's Job Council</a>, Lewis Hay of NextEra Energy and Jeffrey Immelt of GE (<span style="font-size:small;"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00009638">another top Obama donor</a></span>, donating a whopping $529,855 <span style="font-size:small;">to his 2008 campaign and reaping billions of green-energy dollars), and there is much to report on both GE and NextEra, in the near future. </span></li></ol><div style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-size:small;">Initially, the DOE had granted conditional loans guarantees to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeAaOCzEVFs&feature=relmfu">three First Solar projects totaling over $4.5 billion</a>, yet First Solar's Topaz project located in San Luis Obispo, CA (for $1.5 billion) was not finalized. Later the Topaz project was purchased by (Obama buddy") <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeAaOCzEVFs&feature=relmfu">Warren Buffet for $2 billion</a>, and somehow the Agua Caliente project ended up snagging that $967 million loan guarantee, thus giving First Solar over $3 billion of green-government loans.</span></div><div style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-size:small;"> </span></div><div><span style="color:#000000;font-size:small;">First Solar</span> <span style="color:#000000;font-size:small;">came under extreme heat in <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/USCP/PNI/Business/2012-03-21-PNI0321biz-first-solarPNIBrd_ST_U.htm" target="_blank">the House Oversight Investigation</a> –– "The First Solar Scheme" (pp. 29-38), noting a series of violations and application misrepresentation as wells as "persistent pressure" with even a "threatening" letter to Jonathan Silver documented. And Silver, the</span> <span style="color:#FF0000;font-size:small;font-weight:normal;"><span style="color:#000000;">former DOE Loan Adviser, a</span></span><span style="color:#000000;font-size:small;font-weight:normal;">ccording to WSJ</span> <span style="color:#000000;font-size:small;font-weight:normal;"><a href="http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052970203296004575352982133405348.html">Barron’s Magazine (July 10, 2010)</a></span><span style="font-size:small;font-weight:normal;">, had been a managing partner at Core Capital Partners in Washington. Coincidentally, one of Silver's colleagues there was <span><span style="color:#000000;">Tom Wheeler, another Obama-Biden fund 2008 bundler. While </span></span>Silver was supposed to help Chu accelerate loan reviews, he resigned from the DOE this year, amidst the Solyndra Scandal.</span></div><div style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-size:small;"> </span></div><div style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-size:small;">Also, within the pages <a href="http://oversight.house.gov/hearing/oversight-of-the-department-of-energys-stimulus-spending/" target="_blank">the report</a> released last month by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform</span><span style="font-size:small;">, evidence emerged "indicating that DOE manipulated analysis and strategically modified evaluations in order to get the [First Solar] loans out the door."</span></div><div style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-size:small;"> </span></div></div><div style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-size:small;"> </span></div><div style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-size:large;"><b>Goldman Sachs DNA all Over "Green" </b></span><br /><div style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-size:small;">Besides First Solar, there are two more</span> <span style="font-size:small;">Goldman investments that happen to be on the "<a href="http://greencorruption.blogspot.com/2012/04/green-corruption-department-of-energy.html">DOE junk bond list</a>" that received government loans:</span><br /><ul><li><span style="font-size:small;">Cogentrix of Alamosa, LLC (a wholly owned subsidiary of Goldman Sachs), which had a "B Rating" by Fitch, in September 2011 snagged a $90.6 million DOE loan for a solar site in Colorado. </span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;">U.S. Geothermal, Inc (Malheur County, Oregon) with a "BB Rating" by S&P, in February 2011 got a $97 million DOE loan. Schweizer' book notes that Goldman Sachs is the second largest shareholder of</span> <span style="font-size:small;">U.S. Geothermal. Yet, in 2010 I found more green-government subsidies for U.S. Geothermal...</span></li></ul><br /> <span style="font-size:small;">Since my 2010 and 2011 research, it seems that Goldman Sachs' website has gone through a makeover, an<span style="font-weight:normal;">d their “</span><span style="font-weight:normal;"><a href="http://www2.goldmansachs.com/citizenship/environmental-stewardship-and-sustainability/environmental-markets/financing-and-advisory.html">Environmental <span class="yui320131323093772560496">Markets Financing and Advisory</span></a></span> <span style="font-weight:normal;">” section clients include at least two green firms that stand out immediately. Both were also</span></span> <span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-weight:normal;"><i>recipients</i> of</span><span style="font-weight:normal;"> millions of DOE money and</span></span> <span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-weight:normal;">have <i>meaningful connections</i> to President Obama, the DOE, and Democrats</span><span style="font-weight:normal;">. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span> <br /> <span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-weight:normal;">While this opens up a need to unveil more "Big Green Favored Portfolios," and much more, here is a snippet:</span></span></div><div style="color:#000000;"><ul><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-weight:normal;"><span style="color:#000000;">Tesla Motors IPO: Obama Bundler and DOE Advisor, Steven Westly snagged</span></span> a $465 million ATVM DOE loan (one of five), and in 2011 was tagged as the "<a href="http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/03/30/3845/green-bundler-golden-touch">Green bundler with the golden touch</a>." While IWatch points to "a trail of [green] loans, grants and tax breaks," I found more –– as of January 2012, over 40% (and counting) of <a href="http://westlygroup.com/portfolio/">The Westly Group portfolio</a> were winners in the "Obama's Green Spending Spree."</span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-weight:normal;"><span style="color:#000000;">Amyris, Inc. IPO: Not only is this company a Westly investment, but also a Kleiner Perkins and Khosla Ventures <a href="http://greencorruption.blogspot.com/2012/04/obamas-political-payback-green.html">investment</a> –– both comprise of "heavy-weight" Obama supporters, whose firms snagged multiple green-government contracts, another <i>trail</i> we will expose in due time. Also, <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2011/11/15/Sen-Feinstein-Loaded-up-on-Biotech-Stock-Just-Before-Company-Received--24-Million-Govt-Grant">according to Peter Schweizer</a>, "California</span></span> Senator Diane Feinstein and her husband invested $1 million into <a href="http://www.amyris.com/">Amyris Biotechnologies</a> just weeks prior to the company receiving a <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2011/11/15/Sen-Feinstein-Loaded-up-on-Biotech-Stock-Just-Before-Company-Received--24-Million-Govt-Grant">$24 million grant</a> from the <a href="http://energy.gov/">Department of Energy</a> (DOE)." </span></li></ul><br /> <span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-weight:normal;"><span style="color:#000000;">Furthermore,</span> <span style="color:#000000;">it has been reported that</span></span> <a href="http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-26/solyndra-meltdown-may-hit-goldman-s-reputation-william-d-cohan">Goldman <span class="yui320131323093772560482">Sachs is credited as the “exclusive financial adviser” for Solyndra</span></a>,</span> <span style="font-size:small;">and in June 2009, SpectraWatt, <a href="http://gigaom.com/cleantech/fire-sale-intel-backed-spectrawatt-sold-for-4-9m/">another Goldman Sachs investment</a>, received a $500,000 grant from National Renewable Energy Lab via the stimulus. However, SpectraWatt <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-24/intel-backed-solar-company-files-for-bankruptcy-as-prices-slide.html">filed for bankruptcy</a> in 2011, but not before giving "five company executives, including Richard J. Haug, SpectraWatt's President and COO, six-figure 'insider payments' totaling more than $745,000," a very <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/green-firms-fed-cash-give-execs-bonuses-fail/story?id=15851653&page=4#.T9TULL_Ip7d">disturbing trend</a> that seems to accompany many taxpayer-funded green firms that go bust! </span></div></div></div></div></div><div><span style="font-size:small;"> </span></div><p><span style="font-size:small;">Back in 2009 ––</span> <span style="font-size:small;">since the passing of President Obama's Taxpayer Funded Stimulus Spending Spree, of which over $80 billion was earmarked for alternative energy –– is</span> <span style="font-size:small;">when I began <i>following the green money</i>. At that time, I uncovered some</span> <span style="font-size:small;"><i>riveting</i> revelations and connections about Goldman Sachs. But</span> <span style="font-size:small;">what I found most fascinating came from Matt Taibbi's <i>Rolling Stone Magazine</i></span> <span style="font-size:small;">piece and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DObBtnVA0g&NR=1">video,</a> where he exposed Goldman Sachs' "long-standing and very deep ties to the Democratic Party," and their "long history of putting their former employees in Democratic administrations."<br /></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-size:large;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-weight:normal;"><span class="font-size-3">Much more on this huge piece of the <strong>Green Corruption</strong> scandal –– <a href="http://greencorruption.blogspot.com/2012/06/obama-tied-troubled-first-solar-3.html" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a> to continue...</span></span></span></span></span></p></div>