Washington (Platts)--15Dec2009/149 am EST/649 GMT

White House officials said Monday that the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is on track to create more than 700,000 jobs in the clean energy sector, among the 3.5 million jobs it will create or save across the economy by the end of 2010.

The Recovery Act's $23 billion investment in renewable energy generation and advanced energy manufacturing will create 253,000 jobs and leverage more than $43 billion in private investment that could support up to 469,000 more, the officials said.

The figures come from a progress report issued by Vice President Joe Biden to President Barack Obama dated Tuesday and released to the media Monday.

The clean energy investments put the US "on track to meet the goal of doubling our renewable energy generation, including solar, wind and geothermal, in just three years," the report said.

"By the end of next year, we will have made commitments to support more than 15 GW of new wind, solar and geothermal and other renewable energy -- enough renewable energy to power 4 [million]-5 million homes per year," it added.

As of October 30, the White House reported that the stimulus package, which Obama signed into law in February, has created or saved 640,329 jobs.

In a conference call with reporters, Jared Bernstein, Biden's chief economic adviser, and Carol Browner, the White House's energy and climate change adviser, did not specify how many of those jobs created or saved so far came from the clean energy sector.

Critics of the stimulus package, including most Republicans, have called it bloated and wasteful. Republican Senators John McCain and Tom Coburn last week issued a scathing report detailing 100 projects funded by the package that they have deemed profligate.

"Billions of dollars of stimulus funding have been wasted, mismanaged or directed towards silly and shortsighted projects," the senators wrote. "Many projects may not produce the types of jobs that most Americans had hoped for or expected."

Bernstein and Browner called the Recovery Act crucial in heading off a worsening economic climate and planting the seeds for a new clean-energy economy.

"The Recovery Act is a large and diverse stimulus designed not only intended to stem off some of the pain caused by the downturn, but also to lay the foundation for some of the president's top priorities," Bernstein said.

The stimulus package includes loan guarantees for renewable energy projects, manufacturing tax credits, advanced vehicle technology loans, home weatherization and retrofit grants, smart-grid funding and other clean-energy initiatives.

Browner said as Obama's plans to increase the amount of renewable energy consumed and cap greenhouse gas emissions are implemented, many of the jobs created by the stimulus package will be permanent.

"I suspect those will be permanent jobs, and as we ramp up our commitment to renewable energies, that demand will be generated for the products they are using," she said.

--Herman Wang, herman_wang@platts.com