![](images/images_01_26_2022/AP.png)
Looks like Monolith has critics.
Monolit is not a Green Play.
Biden revives
'clean energy' program with $1B loan guarantee
By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden
administration has issued its first clean energy loan guarantee,
reviving an Obama-era program that helped launch the country’s first
utility-scale wind and solar farms a decade ago but has largely gone
dormant in recent years.
![](images/images_01_26_2022/pic1.jpg)
Press briefing at the White House, Nov. 23,
2021, in Washington. The Biden administration has issued its first
clean energy loan guarantee, reviving an Obama-era program that
disbursed billions of dollars in guarantees to help launch the
country's first utility-scale wind and solar farms a decade ago but
has largely gone dormant in recent years. The Energy Department said
it would guarantee up to $1 billion in loans to help a Nebraska
company scale up production of "clean" hydrogen to convert natural gas
into commercial products that enhance tires and produce ammonia-based
fertilizer. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
The Energy Department said it would
guarantee up to $1 billion in loans to help a Nebraska company scale
up production of “clean” hydrogen to convert natural gas into
commercial products used in manufacturing and agriculture.
The revived loan program is part of
President Joe Biden’s efforts to slash planet-warming greenhouse gas
emissions in half by 2030, amid legislative gridlock that has stalled
a $2 trillion package of social and environmental initiatives. It's
among the tools he can use without new legislation.
Under President Barack Obama, the program
boosted Tesla’s efforts to become a behemoth in electric cars, but it
stumbled after the California solar company Solyndra failed soon after
receiving federal aid a decade ago, costing taxpayers more than $500
million. Republicans and other critics seized on Solyndra as an
example of wasteful spending under Obama’s stimulus program.
The aid to Lincoln-based Monolith Inc. is
the program’s first non-nuclear loan guarantee since 2016.
Monolith produces “carbon black,” a
powdery substance that enhances tires and other rubber products, and
hydrogen used in ammonia-based fertilizer.
Monolith says it can create both products
while vastly shrinking their greenhouse gas emissions. The company
plans to use the Energy Department guarantee to finance a major
expansion of its existing Hallam, Nebraska, plant that produces
hydrogen and carbon black.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm hailed
the announcement as a sign the once-high profile loan program is back
in business and ready to support deployment of clean energy, from
biofuels to nuclear power and offshore wind.
“Advanced, clean production technology
like Monolith’s are the types of impactful projects that support not
just sustainability, but economic growth and clean energy jobs for the
American people,” Granholm said.
Monolith will use the loan guarantees to
“develop the innovation needed to help lead the clean energy
transition, while also creating high-paying green jobs and
strengthening our nation’s supply chain," said Rob Hanson, the
company's co-founder and CEO.
Jigar Shah, who took over as director of
the loan program office last year, said the program has drawn over 70
applications valued at more than $60 billion. The new bipartisan
infrastructure law expanded the program’s authority and broadened the
pool of eligible borrowers. The agency has access to roughly $40
billion in loan authority and expects to make an array of loan
commitments in 2022, Shah said.
While Tesla and Solyndra are the best
known examples, the loan office manages over 30 projects worth more
than $30 billion and generates $500 million in interest income for the
federal government every year, Shah said.
“We have a track record of choosing
winners,'' he said in an interview. “And I know that we get a lot of
press on the ones who don’t succeed,'' but the program has suffered
just over $1 billion in losses since 2011, or roughly 3.3% of its
investment, a figure Shah said is on par with commercial banks.
“Many people think we’re not taking
enough risk,'' he said. ”But we’re in line with the best of the
best.''
Some companies that apply for assistance
“want the Loan Program Office to be sort of your fairy godmother in
Cinderella, where you show up in rags and I create a carriage for you
out of a pumpkin and turn all the mice into horses and all that
stuff,'' Shah said. "But it’s just not the way it works.″
A former clean-energy entrepreneur who
founded the SunEdison solar company, Shah said he understands the
mindset of loan applicants —“you sell the dream, right?” — but says
his job as a government official is to provide a reality check even as
he offers assistance.
“Tell me how you’re going to make the
mice into horses, and pumpkins into a carriage and the rags into a
beautiful dress,'' he said, continuing the metaphor. “What processes
and procedures have you learned to put in place? How are you going to
protect my money?''
The loan guarantee program "is not
intended to be a subsidy. It’s intended to be market-rate debt,'' Shah
said.
Monolith is the first-ever
commercial-scale project to deploy a technology known as methane
pyrolysis, which converts natural gas into carbon black and hydrogen.
While carbon black typically emits large volumes of carbon dioxide and
other gases, Monolith says its technologies aim to reduce greenhouse
gases by up to 80% compared to traditional production.
Robert Howarth, professor of ecology and
environmental biology at Cornell University, said he is “highly
skeptical that this can be done with low emissions,″ adding that he
was “very disappointed” at the Energy Department’s action.
“I very much doubt that emission
reductions will be anywhere near that large when the upstream fugitive
methane emissions are included,″ Howarth said in an email.
Howarth and Stanford professor Mark
Jacobson published a research paper last year questioning climate
benefits of so-called blue hydrogen produced from natural gas.
“Emissions from blue hydrogen are worse than if one simply burned
natural gas for the energy instead,″ Howarth said.
Shah called Howarth a friend, but said he
is confident Monolith can meets its projections on carbon pollution.
"Even with the worst case scenario, and
methane leakage, we still have 80% reduction in greenhouse gas
emissions versus the business as usual processes,'' he said.
Monolith said it would create about 1,000
jobs to support expansion of its hydrogen plant
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., one of two
tiremakers that has signed a letter of intent to purchase the carbon
black, said in a statement it was “excited” to work with Monolith to
reduce its carbon footprint.
“As the only U.S.-headquartered tire
manufacturer, it’s especially rewarding to be at the connection point
of significant U.S. innovation with Monolith" and the Energy
Department, said Richard Kramer, Goodyear's chairman and CEO.
Green Play Ammonia™, Yielder® NFuel Energy.
Spokane, Washington. 99212
www.exactrix.com
509 995 1879 cell, Pacific.
Nathan1@greenplayammonia.com
exactrix@exactrix.com
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