The White House identified a solar company with a shaky past — which has received more than $1 billion in federal subsidies — as an example of an economic leader after the Paris climate deal that was reached over the weekend.
First Solar received $1.46 billion in federal loan guarantees from Department of Energy and Export-Import Bank loans. The company has been among numerous other faltering green businesses that had shaky fortunes despite the taxpayer subsidies. In 2012, the Ex-Im Bank loaned First Solar $455.7 million to actually buy solar panels from itself.
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
“Let me give you one other example. There is a company called First Solar,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said. “This is an American company that is developing, constructing and operating solar projects around the world, many of them the largest or among the largest in their regions, including Latin America, the Middle East, Australia.”
Motley Fool reported last week that First Solar, which has made a comeback from hard times, could be on the verge of benefitting most from the emission reductions agreed to at the recent U.N. climate talks in France.
In 2014, heirs of Walmart founder Sam Walton and a former Enron executive stepped into to turn the company around. However, earlier this year, funds from Maverick Capital Ltd. sued First Solar in Arizona federal court. The lawsuit said First Solar hid several problems and misrepresented its progress.
“As we see additional countries deciding how precisely they are going to meet these commitments, they will turn to investments in solar energy and that is going to create tremendous opportunities for American companies that are already leading the way in these kinds of innovations,” Earnest said. “We will see in the years ahead that there is a powerful economic incentive in the United States for us to follow through on our commitments and to make sure other countries are doing the same, because that will create a tremendous opportunity for American businesses.”
