July 03, 2010 08:55 PM UTC

Obama announces $2 billion in loan guarantees for 2 Colorado solar companies

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• by: BobMoore

( – promoted by ClubTwitty)

Some big Colorado news today in the president’s weekly broadcast address. President Obama announced almost $2 billion in loan guarantees to two Colorado-based solar companies that will create several thousand jobs. The money comes from the 2009 stimulus bill.

The most direct impact for Colorado will be the $400 million loan guarantee for Abound Solar, which was born at Colorado State University and now has a plant in Longmont, headquarters in Loveland and R&D facilities in Fort Collins. The expansion will create 300 new jobs in Northern Colorado and 900 at a new plant in an abandoned Chrysler factory in Indiana. There’s also the possibility of some significant job growth as suppliers move closer to the plants. Here’s what Obama said in his weekly broadcast address:

The second company is Abound Solar manufacturing, which will manufacture advanced solar panels at two new plants, creating more than 2,000 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs.  A Colorado plant is already underway, and an Indiana plant will be built in what’s now an empty Chrysler factory.  When fully operational, these plants will produce millions of state-of-the-art solar panels each year.

Here’s my story this morning that focuses on that angle. http://bit.ly/awU6K7

The other guarantee announced by Obama is $1.45 billion for Abengoa Solar Inc. — headquarterd in Lakewood — to build a large solar generation plant near Gila Bend, Ariz.

See Obama’s weekly address here:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/brie…