Obama Is Still Screwing Over Taxpayers After All These Years
The Ivanpah solar power plant in the Mojave Desert, backed by federal loans and grants during the Obama administration, remains a financial burden on taxpayers despite underperforming and being outpaced by newer solar technologies. The facility, which received $1.6 billion in federal loan guarantees and $539 million in grants, continues to operate despite high costs and reliability issues. Taxpayers face losses whether the plant closes or stays open due to unpaid loans and above-market electricity prices.
- ▪Ivanpah received a $1.6 billion federally guaranteed loan and a $539 million Treasury grant during the Obama administration.
- ▪Between $730 million and $780 million of the federal loan remains unpaid, leaving taxpayers liable if the plant shuts down.
- ▪Modern photovoltaic solar with battery storage has surpassed Ivanpah's concentrated solar technology, making it economically uncompetitive.
- ▪California regulators cited reliability concerns and low capacity factor, which reached only 17% in 2023.
- ▪Efforts by both the Trump and Biden administrations to shut down the plant were blocked by the California Public Utilities Commission.
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Obama Is Still Screwing Over Taxpayers After All These Years Matt Margolis | 3:56 PM on May 02, 2026 AP Photo/Matt Freed There's a massive solar power plant glowing in the Mojave Desert near the California–Nevada border, and it's costing you money whether you know it exists or not. It’s called Ivanpah, and it’s Barack Obama's $2.2 billion monument to green energy hubris, a project so economically broken that both shutting it down and keeping it running costs big money. You truly cannot win either way.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at PJ Media.
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