Audit of the Dept. of Energy’s loan program to be released this week
The White House plans to publicly release its audit of the US Dept. of Energy’s loan guarantee portfolio in the next few days. The administration had ordered the review last October, following the controversy over the bankruptcy filing of California solar panel-maker Solyndra. The audit report, compiled by former Assistant Treasury Secretary and Fannie Mae President Herb Allison, was completed last week.
An extension of wind power subsidies on the horizon?
Wind industry insiders believe that wind subsidies, set to expire at the end of the year, could be tacked on to an extension of the payroll-tax cuts which expire on Feb 27th, an issue now being debated in congress. However, it’s looking like this issue is moving towards a fierce showdown with the likelihood of a deal being hammered out becoming lower with each passing day. The next opportunity for congress to extend wind subsidies will most likely be after the November elections.
Solar City expected to file its IPO plans with the SEC
The top U.S. residential solar system installer is expected to go public sometime in Q3 with Goldman Sachs as their underwriter. The deal will value the company at around $1.5 billion.
Solar City’s IPO could pave the way for more clean energy firms to go public this year. Possibilities include solar thermal power plant builder BrightSource Energy Inc. and power grid networking company Silver Spring Networks who filed their paperwork last year but shelved their IPO plans due to poor market conditions.
There were 5 Clean Tech IPO’s in 2011, up from 3 in 2010.