![]() ![]() ![]() “There’s a lot that you can do with the money that’s sitting at DOE,” said Dan Reicher, who ran DOE’s energy efficiency and renewable energy office under President Bill Clinton, and jokingly refers to the agency as “the Department of Everything.” Now, advocates say the incoming Biden administration could simply tweak the loan program’s language to make it the backbone of a government-wide clean lending bank that enables the rapid deployment of new innovations, like the installation of batteries and other energy storage technology to support the growth of renewable power. That loan capacity had been neglected by the Trump administration, which detractors contended was evidence of its resistance to aiding clean energy sources that would have competed against the coal, natural gas and oil industries. But it became a political target after solar company Solyndra collapsed, defaulting on more than $500 million in federal loans - even though the overall program recorded an overall default rate of less than 3 percent, far lower than private lenders typically experience, according to a Bipartisan Policy Center analysis. “This situation does feel eerily reminiscent of what it was like during the Obama administration,” said Sanjay Wagle, who served in Obama’s DOE and now is managing director of investment firm The Lightsmith Group.ĭOE’s loan program helped a raft of clean energy companies deploy projects across the country during the early Obama years, when it provided financing that helped drive down the cost of solar and wind farms. ![]() And the department will also have a major role to play in stanching emissions from buildings, appliances and the electric power sector. Electrifying the nation’s fleet of vehicles would represent one of the most seismic market and technological upheavals in recent history. The Energy Department will play a key role in helping slash emissions from the transportation sector, the largest contributor to climate change. ![]()
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