County maneuvers to get solar energy bonds

Similar stories:

• Editorial: Unfounded attacks diminish SLO County solar project

  Editorial: Unfounded attacks diminish SLO County solar project

  We thought we could look the other way when the entire solar industry was maligned after Solyndra went belly up, leaving taxpayers on the hook for $535 million.

  Then we got wind of allegations against SunPower and the 250-megawatt solar farm under construction in the California Valley.

  That project is in our backyard, and we take unfounded attacks personally.

• Subsidies for renewable energy plans are plentiful

  Subsidies for renewable energy plans are plentiful

  WASHINGTON — In the California Valley, NRG Energy is building an engineering marvel: a compound of nearly a million solar panels that will produce enough electricity to power about 100,000 homes.

  The project is also a marvel in another, less obvious way: Taxpayers and ratepayers are providing subsidies worth almost as much as the entire $1.6 billion cost of the project. Similar subsidy packages have been given to 15 other solar- and wind-power electric plants since 2009.

  The government support — which includes loan guarantees, cash grants and contracts that require electric customers to pay higher rates — largely eliminated the risk to the private investors and almost guaranteed them large profits for years to come. The beneficiaries include financial firms like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, conglomerates like General Electric, utilities like Exelon and NRG — even Google.

• SLO County jobless rate drops in August

  SLO County jobless rate drops in August

  A jump in state education and leisure and hospitality jobs helped lower the San Luis Obispo County unemployment rate in August.

  The local jobless rate was 9.7 percent in August, according to the California Employment Development Department. The same month a year ago it was 10.3 percent.

  There were 500 more people working in San Luis Obispo County last month compared to August 2010 — a half of a percent gain year-over-year — according to state data.

• SLO County advised to put recession behind

  SLO County advised to put recession behind

  With taxable sales on the rise, growth in employment and a healthy tourism industry, San Luis Obispo County’s economy is leading the Central Coast’s economic recovery, according to the Central Coast Economic Forecast.

  While economic growth here is not expected to be “robust,” the “wind of change is moving, but very slowly,” said Brad Kemp, director of regional research for Beacon Economics, the Southern California firm that presented Tuesday’s forecast.

  “There are long-term challenges to overcome, but SLO is positioned well for recovery,” said Kemp, who urged the audience of about 500 local business, community and political leaders at the Alex Madonna Expo Center to put the recession behind them and look at some encouraging signs:

• Letters to the Editor 10/19

  Letters to the Editor 10/19

  Be alert for scams

  I received a telephone call from a young wo-man who was very distraught and claimed to be my granddaughter. She stated that she drove to Mexico, got intoxicated, was involved in an automobile accident and as a result was incarcerated in a Mexican jail. To get out of jail, she stated that she needed $2,225 wired to an attorney in Spain who just so happened to be in Mexico and very able to resolve her incarceration and automobile repairs.

  I recognized immediately that this was a scam. I told her to call me back in twenty minutes so I could arrange to wire her the money. I hung up and called the Sheriff’s Department and proposed a wiretap. The officer told me nothing could be done because of California law, and that the caller was most likely outside the United States.