US government provides largest-ever loan for solar project
23 Feb 2010
The US government has made the largest federal loan for a renewable energy project yesterday by offering to guarantee $1.37 billion in loans for a California-based company that is planning to build massive solar plants in the Southern California desert.
The US Department of Energy (DOE) offered a $1.37 billion loan guarantee to Oakland, California-based BrightSource Energy's Ivanpah solar project in the Mojave Desert near the Nevada border.
BrightSource, ranked by Greentech Media as one of the top 10 greentech startups in the world in 2008, is building an approximately 400 MW solar power facility consisting of three separate solar thermal power plants at its Ivanpah project.
The project, when completed, will generate enough clean energy to power more than 140,000 homes, reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by more than 400,000 tons per year and nearly double the amount of solar thermal energy produced in the US today.
Construction for the Ivanpah project will begin late this year and the project is scheduled to coming online in mid 2012.
BrightSource said that when constructed, Ivanpah will be the world's largest solar energy project, nearly doubling the amount of solar thermal electricity produced in the US today.
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