Obama Gives Solar Another Big Boost

If you were enjoying a respite from work this past holiday weekend, you may have missed it. Missed what, exactly? Well, the Obama administration announced a major public investment in catching some rays and putting them (along with thousands of Americans) to work.

Obama used the occasion of his July 3 weekly address to highlight a $2 billion Department of Energy investment in the development and expansion of major solar power projects. As described by Consumer Energy Report, one of the recipient projects is an Abengoa Solar project in Arizona that is poised to become the largest concentrating solar power facility in the world when completed in 2013. The 280 megawatt plant will power 70,000 homes and will keep nearly a half million tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.

As the president explained on Saturday:

"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. In the short term, construction will create approximately 1,600 jobs in Arizona. What’s more, over 70 percent of the components and products used in construction will be manufactured in the USA, boosting jobs and communities in states up and down the supply chain. Once completed, this plant will be the first large-scale solar plant in the US to actually store the energy it generates for later use — even at night."

Consumer Energy Report continues to explain that the Abengoa facility will use molten salt as a power storage medium to bank up to six hours worth of electricity, permitting continued service during cloudy conditions and after sunset.

As the solar energy funding initiative is explained in greater detail on a PDF fact sheet at the White House website, the total funding package of $1.85 billion in loan guarantees is made available as a component of the Recovery Act. The While House estimates that 5,000 new clean energy domestic jobs will arise from the various projects set to take advantage of the available funding. This latest move pushes past a dozen the number of funding commitments, totaling nearly $15 billion, that the administration has already made for solar energy.

Photo by Bardot via Wikimedia Commons.