Congress Raids DOE Renewable Loan Guarantee Program — Again

.

Congress on Tuesday authorized taking an an additional $1.5 billion from the Energy Department's renewable energy loan guarantee program to help support a $26 billion relief bill intended to help struggling teachers and medical and social services. It's the second time the loan guarantee program has been raided. Last year, Congress relieved the loan guarantee program of $2 billion to allow the popular Cash for Clunkers program to run longer than planned. That $2 billion has not been repaid, leaving the loan program with a $2.5 billion budget. That's less than half of the $6 billion originally authorized for the program. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Obama administration says there's plenty of money to fund projects in the pipeline. The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and other renewable energy stakeholders and advocates say that's just plain wrong. The association says the loan guarantee program is now oversubscribed. In a statement issued shortly before passage of the bill, SEIA said "The proposed cut makes it likely that manufacturers of commercial renewable technologies will not be able to take advantage of the DOE loan guarantee program."

Quick Take: There's a pretty simple way for the administration to prove projects in the loan guarantee pipeline can still be funded. We hate to drag this old line out, but "Show me the money."

You might also be interested in ...

DOE Announces $750 Million in Loan Guarantees for Conventional Renewable Energy Projects

Smart Grid Stimulus: Big Deal for Small Business?

U.S. Senate Gets Serious About Energy Storage With Tax Credit Legislation

Smart Grid Stimulus: Two Advanced Solar Projects Offered Almost $2 Billion in Conditional Loan Guarantees

Smart Grid Policy & Regulation

Renewable Energy news and resources

Stay connected with SGN …

Smart Grid Discussions: Get LinkedIn with Jesse

Follow Us on Twitter

Try our RSS feed

Get our email digest

Smart Grid on Facebook