Ivanpah is producing only 25% of the energy promised by the Obama Administration

By Larry Bell ~

As if receiving a $1.6 billion construction loan from U.S. taxpayers wasn’t quite generous enough, the owners of the world’s largest solar power plant — Google, BrightSource Energy and renewable energy giant NRG – are now seeking another $539 million federal grant from the Treasury Department to help pay off that previous loan. Why do they need it?

Well . . . blame the weather. It seems that the sun doesn’t shine as brightly on the California Mojave desert Ivanpah project as their studies predicted. Whereas President Obama promised in October 2010 that the sprawling 3,500-acre, state-of-the-art solar thermal facility would power up to 140,000 homes and stimulate the economy, it hasn’t turned out that way. Since last February, the plant has produced only about one-quarter of the million megawatt-hours of free electricity that the…