The Department’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) has provided financing for numerous award-winning clean energy projects. The latest is Desert Sunlight, a 550-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic (PV) solar power plant located in Riverside County, California, that was issued partial loan guarantees totaling $1.5 billion. This month Desert Sunlight was designated a Top Renewable Plant by POWER Magazine, which has been covering the power industry for more than 132 years. Desert Sunlight joins previous LPO-financed Top Plant awardees Agua Caliente, Ivanpah, and Solana.

LPO was created by Congress to provide financing for early deployments of commercial-scale, innovative, clean energy projects because commercial lenders are often unwilling to fully finance such projects. To bridge this financing gap, LPO provided loan guarantees for the first four photovoltaic (PV) solar projects larger than 100 MW that allowed the project to be financed exclusively through the U.S. Treasury’s Federal Financing Bank. For Desert Sunlight, LPO worked with a group of 14 commercial financial institutions through the Financial Institution Partnership Program (FIPP) to jointly finance the project.

As required by law, LPO stopped issuing new loan guarantees under the Section 1705 Program on September 30, 2011. However, the initial investments made by LPO helped build a market that subsequently financed more than 17 additional projects larger than 100 MW without help from the Department. Many were financed by the banks that gained valuable experience working with LPO on Desert Sunlight.

The utility-scale PV solar story gets to the heart of what LPO aims to do – help launch new markets. To learn more details on this story, review our report about the landscape for solar starting in 2008 and how it has changed in part through LPO financing.

Mark A. McCall
Mark A. McCall was appointed by President Obama in July 2015 to serve as Executive Director of the Loan Programs Office (LPO) at the U.S. Department of Energy. Mr. McCall oversees the program’s more than $30 billion portfolio of loans and loan guarantees, making it the largest project finance organization in the U.S. government. Mr. McCall is responsible for ensuring that LPO carries out its mission to accelerate the deployment of innovative clean energy projects and domestic advanced vehicle manufacturing. Mark A. McCall was appointed by President Obama in July 2015 to serve as Executive Director of the Loan Programs Office (LPO) at the U.S. Department of Energy. Mr. McCall oversees the program’s more than $30 billion portfolio of loans and loan guarantees, making it the largest project finance organization in the U.S. government. Mr. McCall is responsible for ensuring that LPO carries out its mission to accelerate the deployment of innovative clean energy projects and domestic advanced vehicle manufacturing.
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