Full Title: Financing the Clean Energy Revolution
Author(s): Robert Fourqurean
Publisher(s): Third Way
Publication Date: May 4, 2023
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) provides debt financing to deploy clean energy and manufacturing projects across the country, creating tens of thousands of permanent, good-paying American jobs. LPO’s loss rate of 3.2% is significantly below private sector loss rates, and the Office has received more returns through interest payments than losses throughout its history.
Congress instituted good governance measures to ensure that LPO stays focused on effectively stewarding taxpayer resources. In response, LPO formalized its evaluation criteria to determine whether an applicant has a reasonable prospect of repayment, codified its practices to ensure that political influence does not impact project selections, and strengthened its reporting requirements on LPO project metrics. Congress must provide LPO with annual appropriations to cover its administrative costs so the office can continue helping the US achieve its climate goals and maintain its leadership in clean energy as China and other rivals compete for these global markets.