Tesla Solar Factory Not Living Up to New York's $1 Billion Investment
In exchange for $1 billion, the state expected 5,000 jobs and 1,000 installations a week. Instead, it reported 1,700 jobs, most of them Tesla data analysts, and 21 installations per week.
Public funding for private development projects is a bad deal, even according to state governments' own numbers. A new Wall Street Journal report shows that even the world's richest people are not immune from the lure of other people's money—nor are they particularly good stewards of it.
The paper reported on a solar panel factory in Buffalo, New York, operated by SolarCity, a company co-founded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. When the factory was announced in 2013, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo offered to help out. At the time, the state hoped to revitalize Buffalo as a manufacturing hub, planning "to incubate a handful of small startups in promising economic niches."
Instead, the state blew its entire budget on one project, pledging $750 million to build a 1.2 million-square-foot factory, which it would lease to SolarCity for $1 a year, plus another $240 million to purchase manufacturing equipment. It further agreed to exempt the facility from property taxes in its first 10 years, a savings estimated at $260 million.
At that time, the federal government also covered 30 percent of the cost of solar installations through grants and tax credits; in 2015, SolarCity reported having received $497.5 million in direct grants, though the Los Angeles Times estimated that the payout could actually have been as much as $1.5 billion.
In exchange, officials expected the Buffalo factory to create as many as 5,000 jobs and attract further development to the area. Musk promised that by 2020, the factory would make enough products to cover 1,000 roofs per week. But barely a decade since the deal was struck, the factory averages 21 installations per week, and the only new business that has moved into the area is a single coffee shop. And while Tesla reported in February that it had created 1,700 jobs—as the Journal notes, "enough to meet its obligations to the state and avoid a $41 million annual penalty"—the majority of those are Tesla employees who don't work on solar projects. The state has adjusted the terms of the deal 12 times in eight years, lowering job requirements and extending deadlines.
The Journal article adds that Cuomo's "spokesman defended the project, saying the factory site has more jobs on it now than when it was an empty lot where a steel mill once stood," though it's arguable whether $1 billion for 1,700 mostly unrelated jobs is, in fact, better than nothing.
E.J. McMahon, founding senior fellow of the fiscally conservative Empire Center for Public Policy, told the Journal that the Buffalo project could be "the single biggest economic development boondoggle in American history," adding that "the state became a direct investor in that project under the worst possible terms."
This is far from the first sign of trouble: In 2016, Tesla acquired SolarCity, which was out of cash with over $3 billion in debt. In 2018, Oregon clawed back $13 million after it found that SolarCity, now known as Tesla Energy, had overstated the costs of several projects in order to qualify for tax credits. New York auditors later wrote down $883.8 million in state investment after determining that "it will not likely receive the direct financial benefits associated with ownership of the manufacturing facility and equipment."
The enormous expenditure on a private company is dispiriting for many reasons, not the least of which is Musk's public rhetoric on subsidies. In the past, he has spoken quite eloquently about the problems with taxpayer funding for private projects, saying in 2021 that "the role of the government should be that of a referee, but not a player on the field." And yet he and his companies have benefited significantly from government largesse, to the tune of billions of dollars since 2010.
But while Musk's record is disappointing, his rhetoric is right on the money: "Government should try to get out of the way and not impede progress." If only policy makers would listen.
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Easy fix. Just make solar panels mandatory.
You can’t run a gas stove off solar.
Use eminent domain to seize private property. If there’s anything NY state is known for, its bright sunshine year round.
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Mandate electric heaters as well. Solar powered electric heat should work out well for New York State.
It would work out well for the rest of the nation.
I mean, I don’t live there…
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I hope you are being tongue in cheek? NYC runs the entire city on regeneration of STEAM, from restaurant cooking to household heating waste energy is used through the entire city. Very efficient system.
Any mandate should be for SOLAR WATER HEATERS outside of the areas covered by steam heat. That alone would reduce household energy consumption by 1/3, if used for household heat that number would be about 3/4. Solar water heat does NOT use rare earth metals. Rare earth metals destroy the environment sometimes much worse than oil production and for sure much more expensively. It also used immense amounts of oil to mine relative to the amount of solar panels made.
If you are going to lie, at least make it take more than a 5 sec google search
What types of energy does New York City use?
by Source
Petroleum.
Natural Gas.
Electricity.
Coal.
From the EIA.
Where does NYC get its energy?
Electricity. Natural gas, nuclear energy, and hydropower consistently generate more than 90% of New York’s electricity.
I know facts geez. Yes, 1800 buildings still get steam but that isn’t how the energy is used. It is not regenerative.
It is to a certain point, steam turns back into hot water called condensate, and that is already hot so takes less Btu’s to heat up and turn back into steam. Greater efficiency. That is the point of Combined cycle power plants. Waste heat from the gas turbines which are already generating electricity heats up the water in the HRSG’s (heat recovery steam generators) in other words boilers and uses that waste heat/steam to generate even more electricity instead of seeing that waste heat going up a stack or down a drain.
You could use solar to crack water into hydrogen and oxygen, then use that in your stove, but I would suggest some tuning by an engineer or two first…
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Yes, because hydrogen gas is so damned safe to use! OMG, YES!
(in case you didn’t know that was pure sarcasm).
We just need mini Arc Reactors powering our vehicles.
I got my Mr. Fusion back in 2015.
That must be why the Biden administration wants to ban gas stoves. The next generation of Biden stoves will feature dried dung ovens!
With government supplied Biden Dung Fuel? I’m skeptical that even Darth Brandon’s diapers could create sufficient supply.
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Sure, that is why they are passing laws to force people to buy electric cars. The millionaires bet all their moneys on the electric cars. However, no one is buying them so they stand to lose billions on their investment. The solution, pass a law to force people to buy electric cars. Politicians always pass laws to benefit the rich and disguise it as some altruistic cause like saving the environment. If politicians really cared about people, we would have health care for everyone a long time ago.
You were doing so well until the last line…
*sigh*
Has it occurred to you that maybe the same government that can’t deliver the mail and is endlessly corrupt and wasteful shouldn’t administering health care for everyone? Especially since health care is far more complicated to run than the other things they fail at?
Health care is complicated to run mostly because of the government. Tax policy encourages employers to pay their workers in health insurance instead of cash. This means lots of administrative costs that drive up the price of routine care. Various government programs make the administration even more complicated and expensive, in addition to the direct costs to taxpayers. Then there’s all the idiotic protectionist rules such as CON laws that also serve to drive up prices. Government could very easily make healthcare more affordable: all they have to do is less.
Electric car sales are steadily rising and prices are falling. If you want to criticize mandates and subsidies, there’s an excellent case to be made. But let’s try to stick to reality.
Canada has great public healthcare. So great they are encouraging people to commit suicide to keep the costs down. Now that is a government that cares about people, they care enough to help you commit suicide of you cost the system to much!
Some Canadian Health Care Patients Say They’re Being Encouraged To Just Die Already
When the government runs the system, the right of citizens to end their own suffering can be twisted to serve the state.
https://reason.com/2022/09/07/some-canadian-health-care-patients-say-theyre-being-encouraged-to-just-die-already/
Just learn coding. Oh wait, they are all getting laid off now too!
Smartest thing you ever said.
Probably the most honest too.
h
Just learn coding. Oh, wait, they are laying off coders now!
FOr sound economic perspective please go to https://honesteconomics.substack.com/
No. Fuck off.
Been there. It’s a blind alley, unlike libertrans.blogspot.com
Isn’t that a blog by some ancient nutball who thinks it’s still 1992, and the Moral Majority is the biggest threat to American freedom?
Who even is Hank Phillips?
*SNICKERS*
*Almond Joys*
A perfect fit for trannies. Because feel like a nut, and sometimes you don’t.
There should be a panel discussion regarding this.
Bring some sunshine into the matter.
Vet out things that might cloud their judgement.
A ray of hope for the current events.
The politicians will have a say in this. Electrons matter.
We could revolt.
That could be a positive or be terminal.
We must resist!
If you have the capacity.
Ohm I god, stop with the puns.
If we don’t, will we be grounded?
The whole electrification thing makes me want to go coloumb-ine.
No, a task force. Just like the California Reparations Task Force. They had a well thought out plan. Right?
It doesn’t sound like this solar factory has a sunny outlook.
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The investors who shorted are probably happy. That strategy would be well grounded.
Do what I say, not what I do — Elon Musk
Elon Musk is obligated to accept whatever money idiot politicians throw at him. He’s running a profit making business(es), not a religion. He is not to blame.
Do you take all the tax deductions and credits afforded to you?
It depends how hard he persuaded NY to subsidise him. If they were just throwing money at him, sure, accept it. If he went round asking for it and greasing palms, that’s a different matter. He’d be no less culpable than the pols.
But you don’t how how it played out do you?
No, But I do have a good idea how business generally gets done with large corporations and state subsidies – as indeed do you – and I see no reason why Musk should be considered a “clean” exception.
=
NY has to bribe businesses. Their regulatory environment is shit without special perks and carve outs. So they create another economic distortion to compensate for the existing distortion.
Perhaps they overlooked this:
According to Fox Weather, Buffalo is one of the top five snowiest large cities in the country, receiving, on average, 95 inches of snow annually.
Although the city has not experienced any recent or significant earthquakes, Buffalo is in the Southern Great Lakes Seismic Zone (part of the Great Lakes tectonic zone).[61][62] Buffalo has four channels within its boundaries: the Niagara River, Buffalo River (and Creek), Scajaquada Creek, and the Black Rock Canal, adjacent to the Niagara River.
Charles Koch: “Write an article about corporate parasites living off the government’s tit.”
Joe Lancaster: “Well, Koch Industries received $400 million in subsidies and gave nothing back. Would you like me to write about that?”
Charles Koch: “No, stupid. I want you to make it about that fucking Elon Musk. One of his dozens of companies is bound to be fucking up somewhere.”
Joe Lancaster: “YES SIR!”
Lol
*lmao*
Damnit, now I’m going to have to glue that back on before I can sit down again…
Compare this to Fatass Donnie’s FoxxConn boondoggle in Wisconsin.
Foxconn Finally Admits It Won’t Create 13,000 Jobs in Wisconsin
It now plans to employ just 1,454 people after bulldozing dozens of homes to make room for a factory Donald Trump once touted as the “eighth wonder of the world.”
ERIC BOEHM | 4.21.2021 4:00 PM
DREAMY LIBERTARIAN!
You still mad Subway no longer will use you in their ads?
I suspect you didn’t give a link because you don’t want to say what happened after that.
How much of that promised $13 billion in investment and tax incentives ended up actually being spent, Shrike? Was it perhaps just 0.2%?
And how much do you think Foxconn has spent there so far? Is it over a billion dollars?
And is Foxconn now operating a manufacturing plant at the location and employing more than 1,000 people?
If I was your boss at the fifty-cent factory I’d can your ass for being so lazy.
MAGA nazis and the other altruist socialists are getting harder and harder to tell apart. If it weren’t for bullying grrrlz and busting South America it’d be a RILLY tough call.
Since were talking about phony allegations by halfwitted old men, what do you think about Shrike’s MAGA Communists, Hank?
You really think that asshole is HALF-witted?
turd, the ass-clown of the commentariat, lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a kiddie diddler, and a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit
I’m sure your life resembles this……
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Not a single word dedicated to why it’s so short. Lots of bitching but it doesn’t provide any illumination.
Neither does the electricity provided by their products!
Yuk yuk yuk…
Could see this winding up in a circuit court.
A shocking lack of information.
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Taylor Swift fans still attacking rivals like Scooter Braun after all these years & she ‘refuses to tell them to stop’
Swifties v. Juggalos. Who wins?
Juggaloes throw their own feces at each other for fun.
Swifties want no part of that.
Many years ago, attended several ICP concerts and never saw squirrel’s lunch thrown around. Just Faygo.
Is Sarc a former roadie for ICP?
Swifties and “Beyhive” stans are some of the stupidest, most useless people on the planet.
You’ve never met any Florida Georgia Line fans.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/desantis-blamed-the-president-of-mexico-and-the-corporate-media-for-his-low-polling/ar-AA1dza7Z
Asshole gun banner David Hogg (still using a male name – I’m surprised) brags that he’s a great shot, posts grouping photo, gets torn apart by 2A supporters.
Liberals shoot guns too we just don’t fetishize it and make it our entire personality,” Hogg said in response to the criticism.
After he brags about his target shooting.
Self awareness isn’t a strong trait in fanatics like Hogg. With any luck, he’ll shoot himself in the foot practicing his quick draw in the mirror while shooting a YouTube video.
I can group that at the same 20 yards with a pistol. David will never hogg first place in any shooting competition.
Does shooting off his mouth count?
That’s more of a 200 yard target with a rifle, not 20. And even at 200, that’s a huge spread.
If Hoggshead thinks that kind of grouping at 20 yards with a rifle makes him some kind of Billy Badass, he needs to go back to plinking on Call of Duty. Any basic bitch shooter should be able to get a grouping like that at 20 yards with a rifle.
TL,DR, Just give me the bullet points.
Naah. Give ’em to Hogg.
Pretty sure I could group better throwing the rounds from 20 yards.
Mencken said, “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.” Musk extrapolated along the tangent line to the looter parties those same folks hand their votes to.
Nobody is bullying girls give it a rest already, you’re a one note samba. Anyway, bullying unborn babies by aborting them that’s totally cool though, right?
Hank has the complete bootleg collection of Kermit Gosnell’s 40 week live birth abortions.
“Mencken said, “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.”
Mencken was a snooty elitist who’s unwarranted disdain for the proles, Blacks and Jews lent itself to arrogant statements like that.
Christopher Hitchens described Mencken as “an antihumanist as much as an atheist”, who was “prone to the hyperbole and sensationalism he distrusted in others”.
No surprises that a wannabe parvenu like Hank swallows that sort of derision.
“…a wannabe parvenu like Hank…”
“Asshole” seems more appropriate.
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At least Tesla Solar’s partially up-and-running! Remember, Solyndra went belly-up shortly after getting a HUGE loan from the Federal Government (thanks, Pres. Obama!), leaving taxpayers on the hook for the full amount!
“…(thanks, Pres. Obama!)…”
He’s made all his millions from smart business decisions, right? Right? RIGHT?
I mean, investing in a company and then having the feds give it a fuck ton of money sounds pretty smart to me… if rather underhanded and evil.
This waste is nothing compared to the money governments have been pouring down the nuclear fusion unicorn hole the last 50? 70? years.
Enh, most of the fusion research is actually for weapons.
Title Correction.
New York’s Tesla Solar Factory uses Gov-Guns to STEAL $1 Billion from the citizens and then doesn’t Live Up to it’s Investment surprising only the dumbest people in the world.
As-if “armed-thieves” were the trusting ones?
Gouging taxpayers for private businesses is not new. It is a chance for politicians to brag they are bringing jobs to an area with no guarantees. Look at Wisconsin and the Foxconn failure. Also the same for new stadiums. Politician’s brag about all low paying jobs they will bring to an area for a very limited period of the year in the hospitality industry. Taxpayer have no say, there is no referendum, and politicians seldom suffer from their bad deals when things don’t work out well. Scott Walker maybe the exception as he lost the next election over Foxconn, but still the taxpayers got hosed again with the election of Tony Evers.
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Most fo the comments here are trash banter. Bottom line, cities and states keep giving trillion dollar corporations billion dollar incentives and raising taxes to the individual to support it.
Instead of a blanket tax reduction, the tax reduction should be a percentage of the promise by the corporation. If they promise $$XXX in production and YYY employees in field a,b, and c: then they get only the percentage tax break until they fulfill that promise. sure give them some ramp time but then they get hit with the taxes full bore for non-performance.
This needs to be done to PROTECT THE TAXPAYERS.
Who protected the 1st American taxpayers, from the British Empire? They protected themselves by secession. Their new form of govt. the USA, passed the infamous, immoral, unconstitutional “Whiskey Tax”, leading to “The Whiskey Rebellion”, and state militia being federalized to attack, kill, arrest the tax protesting farmers who were being financially ruined to enrich cronies of Hamilton who had bought up the National debt for less than 10% knowing the tax law would allow them to redeem their paper for 100%. This is how taxation, i.e., legalized theft, works.
Joe: “If only policy makers would listen.” ??? They do what most, 99% of people do, serve themselves. And their victims, keep supporting them. Why? They suffer from “The Most Dangerous Superstition” (by Larken Rose).
And yet, sorry as it is, this still beats the typical return on any government “investment.”
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Granted that it’s a large facility, but that’s $26 million dollars per year in property taxes. That sounds… high. But, I guess you have to have high taxes if you’re going to be handing out billions of dollars to particular businesses.
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Don’t hate the player, hate the game
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