“The owner of a Nevada solar farm financed with government backing filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy, proposing to repay taxpayers less than half of what they are owed on $425 million in outstanding public debt used to build the project.
Under the proposed deal, the U.S. government would lose as much as $225 million on a federal loan guarantee issued in 2011 for the Crescent Dunes solar project, which once touted itself as cutting-edge but turned out to be obsolete before it ever turned on.
Tonopah Solar Energy LLC, owner of the 110-megawatt site, filed for chapter 11 protection Thursday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., less than five years into operations, as part of an agreement between the government and equity backers. The project’s financiers include an affiliate of Spanish engineering firm ACS Group and Santa Monica, Calif.-based developer SolarReserve, which ceased operations at the end of last year.”
read the entire article
Puko, Timothy and Jonathan Randles. Wall Street Journal 30 July 2020.