14 DAY TRIAL // Abengoa Solar will receive $1.45 billion to start the construction of the Solana project, the largest concentrating power plant in the world (250 net megawatt ). The plant will be located 70 miles southwest of Phoenix, near Gila Bend, Arizona, and it will provide more than 5000 new jobs. The second company to be supported by the federal government is Northern Colorado's Abound Solar Manufacturing. It will receive a $400 million federal loan guarantee that will allow the company to expand its manufacturing of thin-film solar panels and create thousands of jobs in Northern Colorado and Indiana.
In Arizona, the energy produced will serve 70,000 homes and prevent the emission of nearly a half-million tons of CO2 per year compared to a natural gas burning power plant, according to Abengoa. Also, about 1.600 new construction jobs will be created, with another 85 permanent jobs for the plant's operation. With the construction of the Solana, a new mirror factory is necessary. It will be built in Surprise, Arizona and it will contract almost 180 people.
As for Abound, it “will manufacture advanced solar panels at two new plants, creating more than 2,000 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs”, president Obama said in his Saturday morning radio address. “These are just two of the many clean energy investments in the Recovery Act” he added. “Already, I've seen the payoff from these investments. I've seen once-shuttered factories humming with new workers who are building solar panels and wind turbines; rolling up their sleeves to help America win the race for the clean energy economy.”.
This federal loan is part of the Department of Energy’s Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program. This program was created to support the deployment of innovative clean energy technologies pursuant to Section 1703 of Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Title XVII). Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 was amended by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to create Section 1705, a new program for the deployment of renewable energy and electric power transmission projects.