Former Biden Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is ready to drop $ 40 billion in departmental energy loans, the former Michigan governor told CERAWeek on Wednesday.
Granholm has chosen Jigar Shah, founder of SunEdison, to address the lending program as director of the Loan Program Office.
The DoE’s lending program has been around for years and, according to IHS Markit, is responsible for supporting the first five U.S. solar power projects in the United States. Even cheaper is that the DoE’s loan program is also recognized for distributing $ 528 million to Solyndra – the maker of the solar panel that went bankrupt two years after receiving DoE funds.
The program, originally created in 2005 under US President Bush, added a component of renewable energy under President Obama four years later.
The largest loan, issued in 2014 to 2019, went to VOGTLE worth $ 12 billion for the construction of Vogtle units 3 and 4 – something that the DoE created ‘the next generation of advanced nuclear reactors’ of the country. The reactors are likely to miss the promised dates for November 2021.
The second largest loan in the program, issued in 2009, went to Ford Motor Company $ 5.9 billion with the goal of refurbishing facilities to improve fuel efficiency.
The two loans account for more than half of the nearly $ 30 billion in outstanding loans issued by the DoE.
The loan program is part of President Biden’s aggressive push towards cleaner energy, with Granholm as a perfect green second chair.
The $ 40 billion funds have been available for years and are awaiting payout, but with the new administration, we are expected to get more clean energy funds.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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