Department of Energy Loans

The Department of Energy’s Loan Programs enable the DOE to work with private companies and lenders to mitigate the financing risks associated with clean energy projects, thereby encouraging their development on a broader and much-needed scale. LPO is one of the largest and most productive energy project finance operations in the world and has committed nearly $31 billion to support 29 clean energy projects. These projects create or save more than 62,000 jobs across 21 states.

LPO has issued conditional commitments to 13 power generation projects with cumulative project costs of more than $27 billion. This represents a greater investment in clean energy generation projects than the entire private sector made in 2009 ($10.6 billion), and almost as much as was invested in such projects in 2008, the peak financing year to date ($22.6 billion).

In 2010 alone, LPO offered loans and conditional commitments for loan guarantees to 14 projects, including:

• Abengoa Solar Inc. and BrightSource Energy Inc., two of the world’s largest solar thermal projects,
• Georgia Power Co.’s Vogtle project, a 2,200-MW nuclear power plant—the nation’s first in three decades, and
• Caithness Shepherds Flat, the world’s largest wind farm with generating capacity of 845 MW.

Loan Programs Office Projects, According to DOE
Current Totals
Loans: $30.7 billion
Jobs: 62,350

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(Electric Light & Power, July/Aug 2011)