WASHINGTON D.C., US, July 17, 2008. The US Department of Energy (DoE)
has announced three solicitations for a total of up to US$30.5 billion in
federal loan guarantees for clean energy and nuclear.
The projects must employ advanced energy technologies that “avoid, reduce or sequester air pollutants or greenhouse gas emissions”, and the solicitations are in the areas of: energy efficiency, renewable energy and advanced transmission and distribution technologies (≤US$10bn); nuclear power facilities (≤US$18.5bn); and advanced nuclear facilities for the ‘front-end’ of the nuclear fuel cycle (≤US$2bn).
The selection criteria for the clean energy projects focus on the ability to avoid, reduce or sequester air pollutants or greenhouse gas emissions; the speed with which the technologies can be commercialised; the prospect of repayment of the guaranteed debt; and the potential for long-lasting success of these technologies in the market place.
The loan guarantee process is organised into four phases: application, project evaluation, conditional commitment, and final approval and closing of a Loan Guarantee Agreement.
It marks the second round of solicitations for the DoE’s Loan Guarantee Program, which encourages the commercial use of new or significantly improved energy technologies. DoE is currently reviewing the applications received to date from the first solicitation.
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