U.S. subsidizes renewable energy for $36B -- but spurns nuke project

The U.S. Department of Energy is making available $36 billion in loan guarantees for renewable energy projects and for modernizing the electricity grid, the Associated Press reports.

"The government-supported loans are expected to help companies involved in solar, wind, biofuels and other renewable energy projects get private financing," says AP. "It also aims to spur investments in power grid improvements."

"These investments will be used to create jobs, spur the development of innovative clean energy technologies and help ensure a smart, strong and secure grid that will deliver renewable power more effectively and reliably," Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a statement.

But the DOE hasn't been so giving when it comes to a $3.5-billion nuclear-enrichment plant in Ohio, notes the Washington Post.

"The Energy Department said that the proposed plant, which would use a series of giant centrifuges to enrich uranium for nuclear power plants, was not ready for commercial production and therefore ineligible for the loan guarantees," the Post reported.

So the owner, Maryland-based USEC, plans to suspend the project. Company CEO John K. Welch said he was "shocked" by the Energy Department decision, especially since President Obama had endorsed the project while campaigning in Ohio last year.

"It is unclear how DOE expects to find innovative technologies that assume zero risk," Welch said.

--Craig Pittman

Wave power generator company hits rough water, bad puns

The British company that was putting the world's first commercial wave-power generator in place off the coast of Portugal, Pelamis Wave Power, has hit some rough water and may be going down for the last time, according to the New York Times.

Pelamis' majority owner, Babcock & Brown, was once one of the biggest in Australia. Now it "ranks as Australia’s highest profile casualty of the global credit crisis," reports the Financial Times, and has filed for bankruptcy.

As a result Pelamis is now searching for another big investor. In the meantime, the Portugal project is on indefinite hold -- adrift, you might say, without a rudder.

Several other proposed wave-power projects have been withdrawn from consideration by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, notes the Times.

Nevertheless, the Wall Street Journal reported recently in a story headlined "Surf's Up," other companies are jumping headfirst into wave power because "unlike wind power, it is more predictable and consistent." Scotland, for instance, is encouraging utilities to test the waters there with a goal of eventually producing one gigawatt of electricity -- enough to power roughly 940,000 homes -- from its coastal waters by 2020.

--Craig Pittman