At the end, geothermal energy companies want California regulators to assign higher values to the steady supply of power they could generate, speed up the permitting process, and promote more transmission line construction to transport geothermal energy from more remote corners ofthe state to towns and cities.
Thetransport secretary found there were "significant technical flaws" in the bidding process because of mistakes by Department for Transport staff and three civil servants were suspended.
Mr Hunter said Icetech's parent company, John G Russell Transport, had started theprocessof finding a new owner for the freezer manufacturer six months ago.
The nature ofthe department's errors, with all the bidders given flawed data, explains why the Department for Transport has said it cannot be certain that the outcome ofthe bidding process would have been different if theprocess had been robust, Robert Peston adds.