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Paul Dickerson in Environmental Finance Magazine article, "US DOE guarantees first loan to solar energy firm"
03/26/2009

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has kick started its loan guarantee programme for renewable energy projects and provided a welcome boost to the solar industry, which is facing weak first-quarter sales.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu offered the first loan guarantee, valued at $535 million, to Fremont, California-based Solyndra, which designs and manufactures solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. The guarantee covers a loan which would provide debt financing for about 73% of the project costs, allowing Solyndra to initiate construction of a second solar panel fabrication facility in California.

“This is an important step for the DOE and I think Steven Chu recognises that,” said David Lashway, a partner in the resources, regulatory & environmental law practice of Hunton & Williams in Washington, DC.

Upon completion, the plant is expected to have an annual manufacturing capacity of 500MW per year. Over the life of the project, Solyndra estimates that the facility will produce solar panels sufficient to generate up to 15GW of clean, renewable electricity, enough to avoid 300 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions ...

“The clean-tech sector has not been immune to the challenges most companies are facing during this economic downturn,” said Paul Dickerson, co-leader of the clean-tech practice group of Haynes and Boone in Houston and former chief operating officer of the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. “Our nation has no choice, but to move quickly on the loan guarantee programme. The industry needs more scale-up capital.”

Excerpted from Environmental Finance Magazine, March 26, 2009