WASHINGTON — The Obama administration will continue its push for solar energy despite growing controversy over a $528 million loan guarantee to a now-bankrupt California solar-panel maker, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday.
Salazar said in an interview with The Associated Press that the Solyndra Inc. case and a delay in the massive Blythe solar project in California illustrate the challenges facing the solar industry. But he remained upbeat about the potential for solar power. The Obama administration has spent billions of dollars to promote it as part of a push for renewable energy.
“I think the future for solar energy is bright,” Salazar said, predicting that success would come over the next several years and convince even cynics that solar can be an affordable alternative to coal-fired power plants and other traditional forms of energy.
Still, Salazar acknowledged risks, including fierce competition from China and changes in technology that have forced some solar companies out of business.
Solyndra was the first company to receive a loan guarantee under an Energy Department program to boost renewable- energy companies, receiving more than half a billion dollars; but competition from China and the drying up of recession- battered European markets led it to file for bankruptcy and lay off 1,100 workers.
“It’s not going to be a perfect path where every project proposed is going to be built toward completion,” Salazar said, comparing the Solyndra failure and other high-profile bankruptcies to “dry holes” encountered by early oil and gas explorers.
Salazar, California Gov. Jerry Brown and other elected officials were in attendance in June when Solar Trust of America broke ground on its 1,000- megawatt Blythe solar project in Southern California. The project has been touted as the world’s largest solar-power plant and a keystone of the Obama administration’s efforts to promote solar energy.
Last month, the company announced the project was being delayed for at least a year to accommodate a major technology change, from solar-thermal troughs to photovoltaic solar panels that convert the sun’s power into electricity.
Salazar called the setback a normal part of the industry’s evolution and said it would not deter him from approving more solar projects.
