Obama hands $2bn to solar energy firms

www.guardian.co.uk
4 July 2010

President Barack Obama, under pressure to stimulate job growth, said yesterday that two solar power companies will get nearly $2bn (£1.35bn) in US loan guarantees to create as many as 5,000 green jobs. In his weekly radio and web address, Obama coupled his announcement with an acknowledgement that efforts to recover from the recession remain slow. "It's going to take months, even years, to dig our way out and it's going to require an all-hands-on-deck effort," he said. The jobs are expected to be created through $1.85bn taken from the $787bn economic stimulus that Obama pushed through the US Congress in early 2009 over the strenuous objections of Republicans.

Obama announced the energy department will award $1.45bn to Abengoa Solar to help it build Solon AGa, which will be one of the largest solar generation plants in the world, near Gila Bend, Arizona. Abengoa Solar, based in Lakewood, Colorado, is a division of the Spanish renewable energy and engineering company Abengoa. In the short term, construction will create 1,600 jobs. "After years of watching companies build things and create jobs overseas, it's good news that we've attracted a company to our shores to build a plant and create jobs right here in America," Obama said.

Obama said $400m in loan guarantees will also be awarded to Colorado-based Abound Solar Manufacturing to manufacture advanced solar panels at two new plants, creating more than 2,000 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs. A Colorado plant is already being built and an Indiana plant will be set up in what is now an empty Chrysler factory.

Obama has previously made it clear he wanted to create jobs related to green technologies. With Democrats anticipating losses in 2 November congressional elections because of unemployment, Obama said the steps he is taking "won't replace all the jobs we've lost overnight," adding: "I know folks are struggling." He accused Republicans of blocking a $33bn extension of unemployment benefits that failed to pass the House of Representatives last week. "At a time when millions of Americans feel a deep sense of urgency... Republican leaders in Washington just don't get it," Obama said.

But Republicans say the legislation would add to the US's debt. In a response to Obama's address, Senator Saxby Chambliss said the country's $13tn debt was "one of the most dangerous threats confronting America today," adding: "President Obama and the Democrats in Congress continue to spend money that they - we - do not have."