DOE Guarantees $10 Billion in Loans for Green Energy Projects

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is offering $10 billion in loan guarantees for projects involving energy efficiency, renewable energy, and advanced transmission and distribution. The agency is seeking projects relating to biomass, geothermal, solar, and wind energy, as well as projects involving hydropower, alternative fuel vehicles, and energy efficiency.

In addition to general energy-efficiency projects, the solicitation specifically requests projects relating to energy-efficient building technologies and efficient electricity transmission, distribution, and storage. DOE intends to issue loan guarantees for standalone projects, as well as projects relating to manufacturing technologies and the large-scale integration of renewable energy, energy efficiency, and energy-storage technologies into the electrical grid. The agency issued a solicitation in July for the loan guarantees, along with two solicitations for nuclear power that increase the total loan guarantee package to $30.5 billion.

DOE's Loan Guarantee Program was established by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and is intended only for projects that avoid, reduce, or sequester greenhouse-gas emissions and employ "new or significantly improved technologies as compared to commercial technologies in service in the United States."

A technology is considered to be commercialized if it has been installed in three or more commercial projects in the United States and has been in service for at least 5 years. The solicitation includes an illustrative list of technologies, but does not restrict applications to technologies on that list. The guarantees can be issued for loans of up to 80 percent of a project's total cost.

Applications are due on Dec. 31. Go to the Loan Guarantee Program website (www.lgprogram.energy.gov/index.html) for more information.