WASHINGTON, April 6 (UPI) -- The U.S. Energy Department said it is preparing to approve more federal loan guarantees for green energy projects.
The development comes amid controversy over the Obama administration's clean energy investments, after California solar-panel firm Solyndra, recipient of a $535 million U.S. Department of Energy loan guarantee, went bankrupt last year.
Developers of about three dozen projects in the loan guarantee pipeline but that weren't approved in time for last year's Sept. 30 deadline are eligible for loan guarantees under a separate program that funds innovative clean energy projects, the department said.
Energy Department loan program chief David Frantz, in a letter Thursday to U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., chairman of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, ranking member of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, said the department expects to begin issuing conditional commitments over the next several months "after completing a rigorous internal and external review of each application."
Projects selected for funding would be "subject to a robust monitoring effort to ensure that taxpayers' investments are protected," he wrote.
He said the number of projects and amount of loan guarantees depends on the "government's assessment of the risk level of the projects selected."
In his letter Frantz defended the Energy Department loan program, saying it has "helped the United States keep pace in the fierce global race for clean energy technologies."
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